JNU LIKELY TO START ADMISSION PROCESS NEXT WEEK

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is likely to start its admission process under the new University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines and it is expected that the varsity will start selling the forms next week onwards.

The decision was taken after the Delhi High Court dismissed a plea by some JNU students against the procedure followed by the University to implement the UGC notification that a professor cannot guide more than three Mphil and eight PHD research scholars at any given time.

The Court said that the UGC guidelines for Mphil and PHD courses are binding on all varsities.

The UGC guidelines give 100 percent weightage to viva voce (oral exam) marks and make the entrance test the sole qualifying criteria for the viva in Mphil and PHD admissions. Currently, JNU gives 70 percent weightage to written test and 30 percent to viva voce.

“The High Court has already said that the UGC guidelines are binding on all universities. Therefore, the University will surely go ahead with the admission policy as per the UGC guidelines,” said a JNU official.

Meanwhile, under the existing admission policy, deprivation points are being given to students from back- ward regions. However, the students claimed that the new admission policy will lead to a seat cut and may also lead to no deprivation points being given to students who come from marginalised sections.

“After a lot of efforts and protests, the University changed the weightage of the written exam to 80 percent and viva voce 20 per cent. We fear that the University may change this decision which was taken earlier,” said a JNU student who did not wish to be named.

Earlier, the Court had refused to grant any relief to the University students who contended that the UGC notification, dated May 5, 2016, “threatens to put our future in jeopardy as we would not be able to find a research supervisor or guide due to the said notification.”