‘PhD will be mandatory for assistant professor jobs from 2023’:UGC

Due to the pandemic, many candidates could not complete their PhDs and urged the government to relax the eligibility this year

The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday extended the date of applicability of PhD as the minimum qualification for recruitment of assistant professors in universities from July 2021 to July 2023. The decision comes amid the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the research work of PhD students to a standstill in the last one and a half years.

In 2018, the UGC set the criteria for recruitments for entry-level posts at universities and colleges. It gave a three-year window to candidates to complete their PhDs. (File photo)

“The UGC, in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, has decided to extend the date of applicability of PhD as a mandatory qualification for direct recruitment of assistant professors in departments of universities from 01.07.2021 to 01.07.2023,” the commission said in a statement.

In 2018, the UGC set the criteria for recruitments for entry-level posts at universities and colleges. It gave a three-year window to candidates to complete their PhDs and asked all universities and colleges to start applying the criteria for recruitment from the 2021-22 academic session.

“The Commission made an amendment in the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education), Regulation, 2018 regarding clause 3.10 that stipulates that the PhD degree shall be a mandatory qualification for direct recruitment to the post of assistant professor in department of the universities w.e.f. 01.07.2023,” the statement added.

Due to the pandemic, many candidates could not complete their PhDs and were appealing to the government to relax the eligibility this year since universities have been shut and research activities suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.