UGC sets new nrms for PhD
The University Grants Commission has come out with new regulations for procuring a PhD degree. The various universities have started working on the revision of the existing regulations for the PhD course. The UGC has set the minimum standards for admission procedure, allocation of MPhil and PhD students to the supervisor and minimum number of students admitted to these programmes. The commission has mooted a university specific entrance test along with stringent checking of thesis and occasional internal examinations.
As per the new guidelines, the university will decide the criteria for the faculty to act as a supervisor, predetermine the number of students to be admitted to MPhil and PhD every year and conduct admission tests on regular basis. The university will also have to reveal the number of seats available for PhD course either via advertisements or on university websites. A supervisor can have only eight PhD students at any point of time.
The allocation of supervisor will be done in a formal manner by the department based on the research interests of student, specialization of the faculty and in no case will be left to the student or teacher to decide on their own. All the admitted students have to undergo the course work of minimum one semester duration related to methodology of research work or review of literature.
The commission however has allowed the course work to be carried out even outside the concerned institution. The university may also decide the minimum qualifying requirements for doctoral students to proceed further before writing the dissertation. Each student has to make a presentation in the department before submission of the thesis and incorporate all the suggestions in consultation with the supervisor.
Each student has to publish one research paper in a referred journal before submission of the thesis. The university, if interested, may have one examiner from outside the country.
Universities have started working on the plan to implement these regulations. Patna University (PU) has prepared a draft regulation for Ph.D admissions as per the new norms. The draft once approved by the Academic Council, Syndicate and Senate will be sent to the chancellor for his final accord.
[Source: Times of India]
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