Bhubaneswar (SunstarTV Bureau): The regulator of higher education has decided to push back implementation of the guidelines released three years ago, which proposed making PhD mandatory for fresh university teachers in the rank of assistant professors.
The Ph.D. degree shall be a mandatory qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor in Universities with effect from 1st July 2021.
according to UGC officials they have been receiving representations for several months against the implementation of the norms that said master’s degree, with National Eligibility Test, will not be the minimum eligibility requirement for direct recruitment to the posts of assistant professors in colleges.
As of now, for direct recruitment in universities, PhD is not mandatory and one can get recruited in several universities after a master’s degree and clearing the National Eligibility Test.
The norms, prepared in consultation with the Union education ministry, said that to encourage the return of the best of brains who made a mark in foreign universities, a special provision for recruitment of assistant professors in various universities and colleges for PhD degree holders from a university or institution in the top 500 global ranking will be made.
Also, it proposed that teachers will also undergo a mandatory, month-long induction programme before starting work and devote two hours for mentoring of students for community development/extracurricular activities.
In the guidelines, the government had also done away with the controversial academic performance indicator based appraisal and introduced a simplified teacher evaluation grading system. It has added academic or research scores for universities to improve research output.
