JNU to conduct in-house PhD entrance exams from next year, three years after outsourcing task to NTA

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University will revert to in-house entrance examinations for PhD admission from the next academic session, three years after it outsourced the responsibility to the National Testing Agency, Vice Chancellor Santishree D Pandit announced on Monday.

Pandit said the majority opinion was in favour that admissions be conducted through the previous pattern. Students and teachers have been demanding that the university reassume the responsibility of conducting the entrance examination. "We will go back to Jawaharlal Nehru University Entrance Examination for PhD admission as the majority opinion is that for PhD, critical analysis is important; MCQ does not allow that," Pandit said during a press conference.

Also Read | Outsider involvement suspected behind scribbling of anti-Brahmin slogans: JNU VC

The National Testing Agency (NTA) had been conducting the examination for the last three years. Candidates seeking admission into PhD programmes had to appear in the Computer Based Test. Over the last year, teachers and students highlighted the problems with the NTA-led examination.

Earlier this year, the JNU Teachers' Association, in a statement, had alleged that admissions to the varsity's prestigious PhD programmes were being administered with appalling shabbiness. The JNU Students' Union had also staged a demonstration demanding that the academic autonomy of universities be restored and the responsibility of conducting examinations be given back to the varsity.