New Delhi: A PhD degree will be a mandatory requirement for the direct recruitment of assistant professors in Indian universities from 2021, the human resource development (HRD) ministry has notified. However, a masters degree with National Eligibility Test (NET) or PhD would continue to be the minimum eligibility criteria for direct recruitment in colleges.
Announcing the new regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC), HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar said Academic Performance Indicators (API), resisted by many as research was made compulsory for college teachers, has been scrapped so that they can focus on teaching.
“The whole effort is to improve the quality of higher education and to attract and retain the best talent in the country. All the incentives of earlier regulations have been maintained, but the API for college teachers has been removed.
“Now it won’t be mandatory for college teachers to do research, but they will have to essentially concentrate and give better education to undergraduate students,” Javadekar told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday.
However, a PhD degree has been made mandatory for promotion to assistant professor (selection grade) in colleges from 2021.
A new and simplified teacher evaluation grading system has been introduced and teaching outcomes would be considered for promotion, he said.
“New recruitment for universities will be only PhD holders. We have given a time of three years. So from 2021, assistant professor (entry-level position) will have to hold PhD degree,” Javadekar said. The minister also said that Indian students who got their PhD degree from top 500 universities abroad will be eligible for appointment in universities and colleges. Currently, such students are not eligible to take up teaching jobs in the Indian universities and colleges.
According to the new regulations, for the first time, provision for promotion in colleges will be up to professor level, he said.
The regulations also mandate newly-recruited teachers in universities and colleges to undergo one-month compulsory induction programme, Javadekar said.