University Grants Commission (UGC) has come up with, UGC Regulations 2018, which exempts PhD candidates from having NET qualification for direct recruitment to Assistant Professor post. This new draft regulation is known as Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, NDTV online reported.

Further the Commission has also listed ‘Ph.D degree from a university/ institution with a ranking in top 500 in the World University ranking (at any time) by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Times Higher Education (THE) and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai),’ as one of the criteria for Assistant Professor appointment.

In this regard, the Commission seeks feedback from stakeholders and general public which can be submitted till 28 February 2018. Suggestions and responses in this regard can be forwarded to UGC via email at [email protected], clearly specifying the clause number, page number and subject matter. The draft is available online at the official website ugc.ac.in.

The draft carries minimum qualifications required for the post of Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Professors, Senior Professors, Principals, Assistant Librarians, Deputy Librarians, Librarians, Assistant Directors of Physical Education and Sports, Deputy Directors of Physical Education and Sports and Directors of Physical Education and Sports.

Those who have registered for PhD prior to 11 July 2009, shall be governed by the previous norms. Such candidates will also be exempted from NET requirement post fulfilling five criteria set by UGC: degree must have been awarded in regular mode, thesis evaluation by atleast two examiners, participated in open PhD viva voce, published two research papers from the PhD work out of which at least one must be in a refereed journal, must have atleast two presentations based on PhD work.