PhD Admissions To Get Tougher!

New Delhi: Enrolling for PhD or MPhil programme may not be a smooth affair anymore. A UGC constituted committee has suggested radical changes in the way research scholars are admitted and PhD programmes conducted in universities across India. The objective is to improve the quality of research and put a check on the number of research scholars in the country.

The committee has framed the proposed University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of MPhil/PhD Degrees) Regulations, which has been uploaded on UGC website for general feedback.

Here are the recommendations:

Proposed eligibility criteria for admission in PhD programme

1. Candidates willing to take admission in a PhD programme must have completed a four-year undergraduate programme Engineering, Science, Law, Architecture, Social Sciences, Humanities and others approved by appropriate bodies.

2. Students graduating under a four-year programme need to have a ‘cumulative grade point average’ of 3/4 or 7.5/10.

3. Candidates who have cleared MPhil with 55 per cent marks shall be eligible to do PhD from the same institute in an integrated manner.

4. Admission to PhD programme will be based on the performance of students at the national, state or university level entrance test.

5. The entrance test will measures research aptitude, analytical skills, writing skills, comprehension and reasoning beyond the subject competency with the appropriate threshold.

6. A student needs to score 50 per cent in the entrance test. The syllabus of the entrance test shall consist of 50 per cent questions which test research aptitude and 50 per cent subject-specific. 

7. An interview will be conducted by the university where the candidates are required to discuss their research interest/area through a presentation before a constituted Departmental Research Committee. For the selection of the candidates, a weightage of 50 per cent to the entrance test and 50 per cent to the performance in the interview/viva-voce shall be given.

8. A person whose MPhil dissertation has been evaluated and recommended for award of the degree, before the viva voce, may be admitted to the PhD programme in any institution.

9. The PhD programme has been proposed to be of minimum three-year duration, including course work, and maximum of six years.

10. MPhil programme shall be of a minimum of one year and a maximum of two years.