UGC's new policy for recruitment of assistant professors

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The new policy has drawn emphasis on graduation marks which will be considered for selection of Assistant Professors
The new policy has drawn emphasis on graduation marks which will be considered for selection of Assistant Professors

New Delhi : The new policy laid down by the University Grant Commission (UGC) of India is likely a great news for candidates with a PhD degree. Accordingly, universities shall exempt the requirement of minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for Assistant Professor recruitment. Meaning, candidate with only PhD degree in particular discipline can apply for teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges.

The new UGC policy change will likely meet the measures for the maintenance of standards in higher sducation 2018 which carries minimum qualifications for recruitment to 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.

The UGC draft policy was released in February 2018, for which the Commission had asked feedback from stakeholders.

'Candidates who have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009, or the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree) Regulation,2016, and their subsequent amendments from time to time, as the case may be, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor or any equivalent position in any University, College or Institution,' reads the policy.

'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),' is also listed as one of the eligibility criterion for Assistant Professor recruitment.

Also, the new policy has drawn emphasis on graduation marks which will be considered for selection of Assistant Professors. Candidates with 80% and above in graduation will get 15 score; it will 13 for those scoring 60-80%, 10 for 55-60% and 5 for 45-55%. Till date, the candidates were shortlisted for job interview as per the marks of post graduation, NET with JRF, M.Phil, Ph.D, NET/ SET/ SLET and experiences, but now the process will become a little less competitive for applicants.

The UGC policy also mentions that the minimum teaching-learning workload should not be less than 40 hours a week for 30 working weeks in an academic year. For Professor, the workload has to be 14 hours per week and for Assistant Professor it should be 16 hours per week.