PU committee takes up PhD guidelines for new session

Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 22

A Panjab University panel, on Wednesday, held a meeting to deliberate on the PhD guidelines for the upcoming 2019-20 academic session.

The three main issues that figured on the committee’s agenda were special admission drive for PhD students with disability, GATE and GPAT as a qualification for the PhD degree and making standard rules for PhD guides, who have a familial bond with scholars.

Taking into account the demand of persons with disability (PwD), who expressed their concern over physically challenged PhD students of the varsity, the panel has recommended that a special admission drive for students with disability in MPhil or PhD courses be allowed as per the 2018 UGC regulations.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission (UGC) notification, dated August 27, 2018, laid down minimum standards and procedure for awarding MPhil/PhD degrees providing a relaxation of five per cent marks (from 50 to 45 per cent) for candidates belonging to the SC/ST/OBC (Non-creamy layer)/differently-abled category in the entrance examination conducted by universities. It was stated that if in spite of the above relaxation, the seats allotted for SC/ST/OBC (Non creamy layer)/differently-abled categories remain unfilled, universities concerned shall launch a ‘Special admission drive’, for that particular category within one month from the date of closure of admissions of the general category.

The university concerned will devise its own admission procedure along with eligibility conditions to ensure that most seats under these categories are filled.

The panel also expounded in detail about the qualifying GATE and GPAT as the minimum eligibility criteria for admission of students in the PhD programme. It was also resolved that GATE and GPAT score’s validity shall stand valid forever (or infinitely). Earlier, a student was required to take admission in the PhD programme within five years of clearing the GATE and GPAT. The recommendation had been marked to the Syndicate, sources revealed.

The committee resolved that set rules had to be made in cases where blood relatives were to be a scholar’s guide or vice-versa. “Until now, the university only has silent rules on familial bonds as far as PhD courses go. We have recommended that official rules be made about the same and that too, in writing. We’re looking to add them to the prospectuses in case the Syndicate decides in favour of the recommendation,” said a source.