NET Scores Valid For PhD Admissions From This Year: UGC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced that scores of the National Eligibility Test (NET) will be valid for PhD admissions from the 2024-25 academic session. Several varsities conduct separate PhD entrance tests due to which candidates are required to write multiple exams. In order to streamline the process, UGC has now decided to make scores secured at the national-level entrance exam NET valid for PhD admissions. This decision has been made in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

As per the official notice, the decision was made in the 578th UGC meeting that was held on March 13, following recommendations from an expert committee. NET is conducted twice a year, in June and December, to award Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and to select Assistant Professors for those with master’s degrees. With the new announcement, UGC NET qualified candidates will now be eligible for three categories:

— PhD admission with JRF and assistant professor posts;

— PhD admission without JRF and for assistant professor posts;

— only for PhD programme admission. However, candidates must note that for creating a merit list for PhD admissions, 70 per cent weightage will be given to the UGC NET scores and the remaining 30 per cent to interviews.

UGC chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) is planning to launch the process from next week. “From the academic session 2024-2025, all universities can use NET score for admission to PhD programmes in place of entrance tests conducted by the different universities/HEIs. NTA is working on launching the NET application process for June 2024 session sometime next week,” the UGC chairperson posted on X.

The UGC NET June 2024 notification is expected to be released soon on the official website at ugcnet.nta.nic.in. The scores of NET remain valid for one year.