JNU students extend strike; Javadekar defends seat cut

New Delhi, March 23

JNU Students' Union will continue their strike against the central government’s decision to cut down seats in MPhil and PhD courses, even as HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar defended the varsity's decision saying it follows UGC norms.

The varsity released its prospectus on Tuesday effecting seat cuts in the MPhil/PhD programmes across courses.

The Delhi High Court dismissed a petition in which some students challenged the new admission policy, saying that UGC guidelines are binding on all varsities.

Students called a daylong strike on Wednesday, but decided to extend it by two more days. 

"We have planned to continue the university strike for two more days and stage a mass protest demonstration outside the UGC office tomorrow," JNUSU President Mohit Pandey said.

The HRD Minister, however, defended the decision saying JNU professors guide more researchers than they are mandated to.

The Minister's statement came during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha when members voiced concern about the state and the quantum of research, including PhDs, being done in the country.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh claimed the UGC guidelines have proved to be counter-productive.

Observing that a court has now held that the JNU should follow the UGC norms, Javadekar said that the UGC mandate is that a professor may guide 8 scholars, an associate professor 6 and assistant professor 4.

In JNU, the Minister said, there were instances of professors guiding up to 20-25 scholars for their PhDs.

The JNU administration also issued a statement. "The number of vacant seats has been announced in accordance with the cap on research seats as per 2016 UGC Regulation". "The argument that there is seat cut is untenable, since the current strength of research scholars are much higher than the required cap," it added. — PTI