The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday announced that National Eligibility Test (NET), State Eligibility Test (SET) and State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) will be the minimum criteria for direct recruitment to the post of assistant professor in all universities and colleges, instead of PhD. As per the revised guidelines, UGC-NET/SLET/SET is the minimum requirement for the direct recruitment as an Assistant Professor for those with a Master’s degree, while PhD degree holders are eligible for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor and are exempted from UGC-NET However, PhD students, existing faculty members and UGC members have mixed views about this decision. indianexpress.com talked to some stakeholders about their perspectives on this: Ajeya Vajpayee, PhD candidate, Department of History, University of Delhi It will definitely tone down the quality of assistant professors because we go through a rigorous learning process during the 5-6 years of the PhD programme. With MPhil scrapped, which prepares the students in a big way for the colossal work that they take up during their doctoral research, there’s definitely a downside to it. Additionally, varsities will still prefer PhD holders, at least for permanent positions, and I think that’s fair. M M Ansari, former UGC Member The recent guidelines confuse more than it clarifies the issue relating to the appointment of teachers. We have been facing the challenge of improving quality education. To join as an assistant professor, candidates should be competent academically and otherwise. These lecturers should have a research background and a sound academic background, which is why it was considered essential that they should have a PhD. Even for getting PhD, they have to publish two research papers in referred journals, which are used to establish that these candidates can research and succeed in their academic background. In my view, they have just diluted the minimum requirement to ensure that the people who otherwise cannot be appointed to universities and those with some ideological leanings can be appointed now. This will definitely dampen the quality of education. Sudha Yadav, PhD candidate, Plasma Physics It will certainly be helpful as more candidates will be able to apply for roles. I don’t feel it will bring down the quality as NET qualified candidates already have tremendous academic knowledge. PhD research work doesn’t necessarily have a direct impact on teaching abilities. I am hopeful that with a good influx of non PhD candidates, this will change. Dr KS Kusuma, Associate Professor, AJK MCRC, JMI UGC reversing its order and saying that a PhD is not mandatory will not help in rankings of universities/ colleges at par with other institutions around the world. It is very important whosoever joins as an assistant professor should be able to research, teach and supervise students. The present step will work with intermediate colleges and undergraduate colleges but not universities. Rishabh Pandey, PhD candidate in Psychology, IIT Kanpur It is disheartening for those who spent five to seven years of their lives pursuing a PhD degree, to get the job of an assistant professor, and now it’s not even a compulsion. This new change will decrease research and innovation, and also discourage students who would have wanted to pursue research. With this, not very eligible candidates will become eligible for assistant professor. What needs to be understood is that an assistant professor without research experience will only transfer bookish knowledge, and will be unable to groom their students or orient them towards research.
