The recruitment of an assistant professor in India will not require a Ph.D., says UGC head Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has stated that the National Eligibility Test (NET), State Eligibility Test (SET), and State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) shall be the minimum requirements for direct recruitment to the post of assistant professor in all universities and colleges.
The amended regulations on the minimal requirements for hiring academic staff and instructors were announced on June 30 and went into effect on July 1, 2023. In the notification from the UGC, it is stated that "NET/SET/SLET shall be the minimum criteria for the direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor for all Higher Education Institutions". The revised UGC sub-regulation takes the place of the earlier version. By requiring that applicants pass the required qualifying examinations for the position of assistant professor, this amendment intends to preserve and improve the standards of education in institutions of higher learning.
Having a Ph.D. is required for assistant teaching positions in universities and colleges, according to a 2018 announcement from the then-HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar. Candidates were given a three-year window to finish their PhDs, and it was requested that all universities and colleges begin using the recruiting criteria starting with the academic year 2021–2022. However, in 2021 the UGC extended the deadline for applying for the Ph.D. as the minimal requirement for hiring assistant professors in institutions from July 2021 to July 2023.
Ph.D. qualifications for associate professor appointments are optional, according to UGC Chair Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, who announced the news via his Twitter account. UGC said that only qualified individuals would be hired as assistant professors thanks to the revised regulations' critical role in expediting the hiring process.
The Democratic Teachers' Front secretary at Delhi University, Abha Dev Habib, welcomed the decision. Teachers' organizations, according to Ms. Habib, have petitioned the UGC to revoke the 2028 norms. “Such a criterion was against scholars and researchers from socially and economically marginalized groups. We welcome the decision to make Ph.D. degree optional for teaching posts. For appointing research guides, universities should have the freedom to decide the criteria”, she added.
