JNUTA calls emergency meeting; CUET causing 'uncertainty' in PG, PhD admissions

NEW DELHI: The JNU teachers' body on Monday called on Vice Chancellor Santishree D Pandit to convene an "emergency" meeting to discuss "uncertainty" in the admission to postgraduate and PhD programs due to CUET exercise.

In a statement, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) said the crisis has occurred due to the varsity's participation in the NTA-conducted Common University Entrance Test (CUET) exercise and NTA "reneging" on the commitment to conduct CUET for PhD admissions. "JNUTA shares the anxiety and concern of the vast majority of the JNU faculty at the continuing uncertainty about the admissions to JNU's postgraduate and PhD programmes. There is still a near-total lack of clarity regarding the schedule of admissions and the fate of the academic calendar," JNUTA said in a statement.

The result of the CUET-PG by NTA was announced last week. However, the university has not issued any notification regarding the schedule of PG admission. The last notification regarding PG admission was issued on May 20, in which the varsity announced that admissions to PG courses would be held through CUET PG 2022. In the case of PhD admission, JNU has recently released the prospectus for the academic session 2022-23, according to which admissions will be based on merit.

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The candidates seeking admission into PhD programmes have to appear in the Computer Based Test (CBT). JNUTA, in the statement, noted that there has been no official announcement regarding the entrance examinations for PhD admissions. "JNUTA urges the JNU Vice-Chancellor and administration to hold an emergency Academic Council as soon as possible as it believes it to be the only institutional process to resolve the issues (related to admission)," the statement read. "It is crucial that AC restores some of the significant aspects of JNU's admission process which have been badly affected by the adoption of the 'exclusively MCQ' format that the previous JNU administration imposed on all Centres and Schools," the statement read.

Asserting that there has been an "unacceptable shortfall" in the fulfilment of reservations in the PhD admissions, the JNUTA said it believes that the academic council must deliberate afresh on both these issues, develop fresh guidelines on the conduct of the viva voce, and if it so decides, approach the UGC for an amendment to the regulations.