PhD - not mandatory to teach in college as professor

 It is no longer mandatory to have a PhD degree to apply for the post of assistant professor in colleges and universities. It is enough to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET), State Eligibility Test (SET), or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) to be eligible for appointment.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), India’s higher education regulator, notified this change on June 30, reversing a decision it made in 2018. The new minimum criteria for direct recruitment of college and university teachers at the entry level came into effect on July 1.

In revised regulations on ‘Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges’ released in June 2010, the UGC said that candidates for assistant professor must qualify in the NET, SET, or SLET. However, candidates who had PhDs were exempted from this eligibility condition.

But why did UGC reverse the decision it had announced in 2018?

The purpose seems to be to cast the net wider by removing an inessential entry barrier, while ensuring at the same time that quality does not suffer.

UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar told The Indian Express, “In certain disciplines such as policy-making, design, foreign languages, law, architecture and other similar subjects, universities often find it difficult to get candidates with a PhD. Removal of mandatory PhD conditions at the entry level will help universities in recruiting candidates with a flair for teaching but without a PhD. They of course need to complete their PhD to move to the next level [of associate professor].”

The UGC chairman clarified that while NET/SET/SLET is the minimum requirement for assistant professor, universities or colleges may set higher shortlisting criteria for interviews in order to manage the number of candidates.

How has the academic community reacted?

Teachers acknowledge that removing the PhD requirement could help candidates from marginalised sections. But there are apprehensions over how the selection process will work in practice — and whether candidates with research degrees might be overlooked for those with just a NET/SET/SLET.

Removing the PhD requirement allows people to enter the profession at a younger age. 

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