UGC Regulation : NET not must for college teachers

PhD and MPhil degree holders will no longer have to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Eligibility Test (SET) to teach in universities and colleges.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), which had made clearing NET mandatory for most candidates to bag teaching posts in colleges and universities, recently issued a notification to its regional offices exempting applicants who have completed MPhil or PhD from appearing for the examination.

The Bengal government has welcomed the move and extended the exemption to SET. Clearing the examination allows candidates to apply to colleges and universities in the state.

The decision will bring relief to hundreds of PhD and MPhil degree holders who aspire to teach on Bengal campuses. The decision will also help colleges in the state to fill up vacancies . The stringent eligibility tests were coming in the way of teacher recruitment.

“Only a small percentage of students sit for NET or SET and an even smaller percentage of them clear the tests,” said an official of state college service commission.

“We have received a notification announcing the exemption from our head office in Delhi. It will soon be sent to the state higher education department and to the vice-chancellors of various universities in the state,” said Ratnabali Banerjee, the joint secretary in the UGC’s eastern regional office in the city.

“Once the UGC issues the order for NET, it will automatically apply for SET as well,” said Subimal Sen, the chairman of the state higher education council.

The July 2009 notification had only exempted those who completed PhDs that meet the UGC’s latest regulations from clearing NET or SET to apply for college or university teaching posts.

Under the latest regulations, students clear an entrance test and submit a project report to enrol themselves for doctoral degrees. The regulations came into effect in 2009.

“I am happy that I will not have to appear in NET or SET to teach in a college,” said a research scholar who had completed his doctorate at Calcutta University in 2008.

The Central government had set up a committee in 2007 to recommend a minimum qualification for appointment of college and university teachers.

The committee had recommended in its interim report that clearing NET or SET should be mandatory for candidates, except those who hold MPhil and PhD degrees. The UGC had implemented the recommendation. The final report of the panel was more stringent.

Source : The Telegraph