PhD Admission Process for 2024 Shifts to UGC NET, Eliminating Separate University Entrance Exams

Exciting developments are underway for aspiring PhD candidates looking to pursue their studies in universities this year. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has introduced a significant alteration to the admission process for research courses (PhD) offered by universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) nationwide. In a notification released on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, the Commission announced that admission to university research programs (PhD Admission 2024) will now be facilitated through the National Eligibility Test conducted by the UGC. This test, administered twice a year by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in June and December, will serve as the primary gateway for PhD admissions (UGC NET).

PhD Admission in 2024, universities will no longer administer individual entrance examinations

In the PhD Admission 2024 notification released by the UGC, it has been stipulated that universities and other HEIs will forego conducting individual entrance examinations for admissions. Instead, these institutions have been granted the autonomy to conduct interviews as a second-stage selection process for admitting candidates. In this regard, the UGC has established the weightage of NET scores and interviews at 70% and 30%, respectively, in the PhD admission selection process.

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PhD Admission 2024, the results of UGC NET will be announced in three distinct categories

In the notification mandating UGC NET for PhD Admission (PhD Admission 2024), the UGC has additionally declared that starting from the upcoming session in June 2024, UGC NET results will be categorized into three distinct groups. These categories, previously applicable for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Assistant Professor recruitment eligibility, will now extend to include eligibility for PhD admission as well. Furthermore, the UGC NET results will now be disclosed by the NTA in both percentile and marks for the candidates.