Assistant Professor Recruitment: Big Change In Eligibility

In view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre has decided to put on hold the plan to make PhD a minimum qualification for recruitment of assistant professors this year. This information was recently shared by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Minister stated that the government has decided to put on hold the mandatory PhD requirement for assistant professors post for this year. This means that after this decision, the candidates with a post-graduate degree and who have cleared the National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) are eligible to apply for the post of assistant professors.

Back in 2018, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had set this criterion for recruitment for entry-level posts at universities and colleges.

As per the decision, the Commission had given a three-year window to all candidates to complete their PhDs and had asked all universities and colleges to start applying the criteria for recruitment starting from this year's academic session (2021-22).

However, due to the pandemic, many candidates were unable to complete their PhDs on time and they had been urging the government to relax the eligibility this year. As per sources, the UGC will soon release a circular to all higher education institutions regarding the changers.