UGC-NET likely to be held once a year; CBSE to continue as conducting authority

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has proposed conducting the National Eligibility Test (NET) annually instead of twice in a year.

As per sources, CBSE approached the University Grants Commission (UGC) with the suggestion to hold NET annually in view of the poor response to the test and also complained that conducting various examinations which are outside its purview was putting a lot of pressure on it.  However,  the government announced that CBSE will continue to conduct NET.

The CBSE, it has been reported, had earlier written to the human resource development (HRD) ministry in September informing it about getting overburdened by conducting various exams.

Putting an end to speculations, Minister of State for HRD Mahendra Nath Pandey on Thursday said in the Rajya Sabha that CBSE will continue to conduct NET for post graduate students. However, UGC is yet to make a final decision on conducting NET annually.

Also Read: UGC-NET 2017: Examination to be held on Nov 5

The NET exam is held twice a year in the months of July and December to determine eligibility for college and university level lectureship and for award of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF).

Meanwhile, UGC has brought some changes in the qualifying criteria of the UGC NET following which only six percent of the total candidates who appear in the UGC-NET examination will be declared qualified.

It is worth mentioning that the July NET exam of this year will be held on November 5.