UGC TO EASE NORMS TO ADMIT MORE SC/ST STUDENTS IN PHD
NEWDELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) is set to lower the eligibility cutoff for students from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes for admission to M Phil and PHD programmes in universities across the country in order to fill mounting vacancies in reserved seats, according to the human resource development (HRD) ministry.
UGC is also set to permit universities to launch a special ad– mission drive to fill vacant seats by setting their own criteria.
A new UGC notification, ‘Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M Phil/phd Degrees (1st Amendment) Regulations 2018’ — which has been accessed by HT — says “a relaxation of 5% of marks, from 50% to 45% shall be allowed for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC (noncreamy layers)/differently abled category in the examination conducted by the Universities”.
If seats for SC/ST/OBC remain unfilled despite this relaxation, universities will launch a special admission “for that particular category within one month from the date closure of admission of general category”. R Subrahmanyam, secretary, higher education, in the Union HRD ministry, said the government was hoping this move would help cut down on vacancies in such programmes. “The government is concerned with the reduced numbers of PHD admissions from SC/ST categories after the introduction of the two-step admission process,” Subrahmanyam said.
“Whereas we are determined to improve the quality of doctoral education, we must ensure that the constitutional safeguards for SCS and STS are not violated. Therefore, the minister for HRD Prakash Javadekar approved an amendment in the PHD regulation that provides for a special admission process for SC/ST/ OBC vacancies. This we hope will go a long way for improving the current situation,” Subrahmanyam said. He did not specify how many seats were vacant.
A 2016 UGC regulation, implemented in 2017 by all central universities, including Delhi University, made it mandatory for students to score at least 50% marks in entrance exams to qualify for Mphil and PHD interviews.