UGC brings in tougher Ph.D regulations

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Getting a Ph.D degree will
soon get tougher with University Grants Commission bringing in
stiff regulation which bans offer of such degrees in distant
mode and stipulates that the thesis paper be evaluated by two
experts, including one from outside the state.

According to the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure
for Awards of M.Phil/Ph.D Degree) Regulation 2009, no
university, institution or deemed university shall conduct
M.Phil or Ph.D programme through distant education mode.

To ensure quality, the regulation says the students
will be given admission through entrance test followed by
interview. The doctoral candidates will discuss their research
area.

After admission, the students will have to undergo
course work for a minimum period of one semester. The course
work is a sort of preparatory course that will touch upon
research methodology.

The university or institution will decide the minimum
qualifying requirement for allowing a student to the next
stage of writing the thesis.

The thesis of the student will be evaluated by two
experts, including one from outside the state. It shall be
upto the institution if it wants to have one examiner from
outside the country, the regulation said.

The regulation is expected to bring uniformity in the
conduct of Ph.D programmes in the universities which are
following varied models.

The regulation, which has been notified, says that the
research students will produce the draft thesis within a
reasonable time as stipulated by the institution concerned.

Prior to the submission of the thesis, the student
will make a presentation in the department and take a
feedback. The students will publish one research paper in a
referred journal before submission of the thesis.

The Ph.D holders, who have pursued the course as per
the UGC's regulation on Ph.D programmes, will get exemption
from clearing NET or SLET to be eligible for lectureship.

The new regulation was prepared after a committee,
under Prof B Mungekar found that the quality of Ph.D was very
poor in a number of universities across the country.

The regulation on Ph.D says universities will lay down
criteria for selecting a research supervisor for M.Phil and
Ph.D students.

A supervisor cannot have more than eight Ph.D and five
M.Phil scholars at any given point of time. The universities
will decide the number of M.Phil and Ph.D seats and advertise
them widely.

The institutes will submit a copy of the thesis to the
UGC which would store it in its depository. PTI BKM
SDE
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