PhD To Be Mandatory For Assistant Prof In Indian Varsities From 2021

New Delhi: To attract and retain quality teachers and other academic staff in universities and colleges, HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that a PhD degree will be mandatory for teachers seeking promotion or direct recruitment to assistant professor’s post in the Indian universities from 2021.

According to a press release, PhD will be mandatory for professors before they can apply in college and universities starting from July 1, 2021.

The Human Resource Development (HRD) also requires that to be eligible for promotion, assistant professors must have graduated from one of the top 500 best performing universities globally.

At present, professors seeking direct recruitment only need to have a Master’s Degree in Education and to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET). HRD Minister Prakash said the exam will still be upheld for admission in fellowship programmes.

Incentives to teachers as provided in the earlier Regulations of 2010 and subsequent amendments have been retained. These include incentives for M Phil/PhD.

Academic Performance Indicators (API) based Performance Based Appraisal System (PBAS) has been removed. A new simplified teacher evaluation grading system has been introduced and research score added for universities to improve research output.

For the first time, provision for promotion will be up to Professor level.

The Regulations mandate introduction of one-month induction programme for newly-recruited Assistant Professors in Universities/Colleges/Higher Education Institution.

Special category of medal winners in Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in eligibility criteria for Assistant Directory/College Director, Physical Education and Sports, and Deputy Director, Physical Education and Sports in Universities has been made to promote sports in universities and colleges.