Close to 200 universities across the country have started implementing the four-year Under Graduate (UG) degree courses, recommended under the National Education Policy 2020, said M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman of University Grants Commission. He was speaking to media persons about the status of NEP implementation a day ahead of Mumbai University's convocation on Wednesday. Later he attended the Mumbai University's annual convocation as chief guest where a total of 1,51,648 degrees were awarded along with 428 PhDs and 24 medals. Other dignitaries present included Governor Ramesh Bais and Minister for Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil. The UGC chairman said, “The 200 universities include all four categories–state, private, central and deemed-to-be universities. In some states, the state government has asked all the universities to start four-year UG courses. The four-year UG is becoming a new normal in Universities across the country." In his convocation address, he congratulated Maharashtra for effective implementation of NEP. "Across the country, we are introducing various reforms. It is clear to me that in Maharashtra the NEP 2020 is being implemented effectively. Maharashtra is also leading in cluster universities which is a very innovative idea to bring individual institutes together to provide multidisciplinary education." Out of 1,51,618 degrees awarded during the convocation, girls have bagged more degrees (79,741) than boys (71,907). Earlier, this trend was seen more in Post Graduation (PG) courses. But this year, the number of girls is more in UG as well as in PG degrees. Out of a total 1,24,030 UG degrees, 62,887 were girls and 61,143 were boys. Out of a total of 27,618 PG degrees, 16,854 were girls and 10,764 were boys. Pointing out the trend, Bais, who presided over the convocation ceremony as the Chancellor, said, "There was a time when girls were not allowed to study. And today, wherever I go for convocation, I see more girls than boys. Even while handing over medals today, I saw more girls walking up to the stage." A total of 24 medals were awarded in this convocation out of which 21 students received them. Among them, 12 were girls and nine were boys. Out of 427 PhDs awarded on Wednesday, Science and Technology saw the highest PhDs with 187, followed by 121 in humanities. While 77 PhDs were awarded in commerce and management faculty, 47 were from interdisciplinary studies. ‘PhD no longer mandatory for faculty recruitment’ For professor recruitments in university departments, candidates are no longer required to have a PhD degree. Dr. Shailendra Deolankar, Director of Higher Education, Maharashtra said the mandate has been relaxed by the UGC and the same was conveyed by the Chairman in a meeting with Minister Patil, in the city. "Eligibility criteria for appointment of professors was different for colleges and universities. While in colleges, a PG degree along with NET/SET qualification was enough, for appointment in university departments, PhD was mandatory. This deprived many from university appointments. But UGC has clarified now that the criteria will now be the same for both and PhD will not be mandatory," said Dr Deolankar. He also said there is a major relief for more than 500 professors appointed between 1994 and 2009, who had MPhil degree and no NET/SET qualification. Even as UGC in September 2022 had issued a letter of exemption from NET/SET for such individuals, a lot of them were left behind in the process of individual approvals. UGC has extended another chance to them. "They can send individual exemption applications to UGC through their respective universities," said Dr. Deolankar.
