New Delhi: The Jawaharlal Nehru University will continue to offer an integrated MPhil-PhD programme that allows students to directly move to PhD after completing MPhil if they have achieved a minimum required grade
The move comes after protests from students and teachers after the university announced that candidates, who have applied for the programme for 2018-19 academic session, will only be considered for the MPhil programme and that it will be a terminal degree programme.
In the admit cards issued to applicants for sitting for the entrance exams, the university had said, candidates “ who have applied for MPhil/PhD programme for the academic year 2018-19 will be considered for MPhil programme only and the MPhil programme will be a terminal degree programme as per the decision taken in 144th academic council meeting held on December 1, 2017.”
However, on Thursday the university issued a statement and said that applicants will be considered for the programme as mentioned in the prospectus.
“This is for information of all that terms and conditions related to admission into MPhil/PhD programmes of JNU for the academic year 2018-19 will be as per the prospectus, 2018-19,” said a statement from the director admissions released on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}“This is for information of all that terms and conditions related to admission into MPhil/PhD programmes of JNU for the academic year 2018-19 will be as per the prospectus, 2018-19,” said a statement from the director admissions released on Thursday.
{{/usCountry}}A JNU official said that the existing MPhil/PhD programme allows applicants to move to PhD without having to give another entrance exam if they have achieved a certain CGPA.
“In the prospectus for 2018-19, there was no mention of delinking the MPhil/PhD programme so it meant students who achieved the desired CGPA in MPhil could directly pursue a PhD degree. Delinking means that the student will have to sit for another entrance test to be able to pursue PhD,” the official said.
JNU teachers’ association had criticised the move to delink the programme and said no such decision was taken in the AC meeting. “JNU’s integrated M.Phil./PhD programme, as the administration has been forced to admit, is not in violation of the UGC Regulations 2016, and therefore there is no legitimising the completely illegal step of changing the terms of programmes long after the admission announcement and closure of the application process,” JNUTA had said.