Students with a minimum CGPA score of 7.5/10 in the
four-year-undergraduate programme (FYUP) will now be eligible for PhD
admissions, without having to complete a master’s programme, according
to the new regulations on award of PhD degree finalised by the
University Grants Commission (UGC). In order to arrest the trend of
publishing in predatory journals, the new regulations recommend either
patenting or publishing in peer-reviewed or referred journals only.
The
University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award
of PhD degree) Regulations 2022 are likely to be announced by end of
June and set to come into effect from the forthcoming 2022-23 academic
session.
Giving a boost to FYUP introduced under the National Education Policy (NEP), the regulations state that “a candidate seeking admission after a 4-year/ 8 semester Bachelor’s degree should have a minimum CGPA of 7.5/10,” while offering a relaxation of 0.5 CGPA score on a scale of 10 for candidates from SC/ ST/ OBC/ differently-abled as well as economically weaker sections.
“Encouraging four-year undergraduate students with a research bent of mind to do PhD is important to improve the research ecosystem in our HEIs. That is why we are permitting four-year UG students who have a CGPA of 7.5/10 or above to be eligible for PhD admission. Those who have a CGPA less than 7.5, will have to do a one-year Master’s degree to be eligible,” said UGC Chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar.
As per the new regulations, 40% of the vacant seats can be filled through university-level tests. Two modes of admissions — 100% based on national level entrance tests or 60-40 split based on national level entrance tests and university level or state-level entrance tests have been recommended.If the total vacant seats are filled by the candidates qualifying in the national level entrance tests (conducted by UGC, CSIR, ICMR, ICAR, etc), the selection of such candidates will be based on a merit list with 100% weightage from interview/ viva conducted by the higher education institution.
