Candidates with a PhD degree shall be exempted from the requirement of minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for Assistant Professor recruitment, reads the new UGC policy. The UGC Regulations on Minimum qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education 2018 carries minimum qualifications for recruitment to the the post of Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Professors, Senior Professors, Principals, Assistant Librarians, Deputy Librarians, Librarians, Assistant Directors of Physical Education and Sports, Deputy Directors of Physical Education and Sports and Directors of Physical Education and Sports.The draft policy was released in February 2018, for which the Commission had sought feedback from stakeholders.
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'Candidates who have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009, or the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree) Regulation,2016, and their subsequent amendments from time to time, as the case may be, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/ SLET/ SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor or any equivalent position in any University, College or Institution,' reads the policy.
'Ph.D degree from a university/ institution with a ranking in top 500 in the World University ranking (at any time) by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the Times Higher Education (THE) and Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai),' is also listed as one of the eligibility criterion for Assistant Professor recruitment.
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Graduation marks
According to the new policy, the draft of which had drawn flak from various quarters, graduation marks will be considered for selection of Assistant Professors. Candidates with 80% and above in graduation will get 15 score; it will 13 for those scoring 60-80%, 10 for 55-60% and 5 for 45-55%. Earlier the for shortlisting candidates for interview Universities used to consider post graduation, NET with JRF, M.Phil,. Ph.D, NET/ SET/ SLET and experience.
Teaching-Learning Workload
The policy also says that the minimum teaching-learning workload should not be less than 40 hours a week for 30 working weeks in an academic year. For Associate Professor/ Professor post the workload should be 14 hours per week and for Assistant Professor it should be 16 hours per week.
