UGC extends deadline to claim pending dues of PhD, doctoral fellowships till July 8

NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has extended the deadline for doctoral and post-doctoral students for claiming pending dues till July 8. Fellows can claim the pending dues of fellowship, house rent allowance and contingency funds up to March 2024 through the Scholarship Fellowship Management Portal (SFMP).

The UGC said, “It has received several representations to extend the last date for claiming pending dues. It has, therefore, been decided to extend the last date up to July 8.” The commission had earlier revised the deadline twice. The last date to apply for the pending dues was December 8 but it was revised till February 8 and then again till April 8.

New portal of PhD, doctoral candidates

Last month , the union government launched a common fellowship portal for PhD and post-doctoral students. The common portal will provide all information about the doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships of various government departments. The portal will host application forms for UGC, Indian Council of Medical Research and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Also read Delayed fellowships, low budgets, lack of support making PhD scholars lose interest

The portal, fellowships.gov.in, has a ‘eligibility-calculator’ which allows candidates to check eligibility for various fellowship schemes. “The portal bridges the information gap for students seeking details of different fellowship programs by bringing all the relevant information regarding eligibility and application at one place,” the website read.

The common portal has been launched to ensure a simplified and streamlined process from the submission of applications by PhD and doctoral students. It will allow candidate to create profile and use the same information to auto-fill different application forms.