West Bengal makes CSIR, UGC NET scores must for PhD admissions across state universities

The Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, has issued a notification to all the universities under the government of West Bengal including the private universities and the aided universities, instructing them that for admission to PhD programmes, they should consider the score obtained in the National Eligibility Test (NET).

The directive has been issued in line with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2022, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and a UGC communication dated March 28, 2024.

The change is part of the drive to standardise, transparency and quality the process of admitting candidates for PhD. The universities and aided institutes have been standing by conducting separate entrance exams, which created various tests and problems for the research aspirants.

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Universities asked to discontinue entrance tests

The institutions asked to accept the score of UGC-NET, UGC-CSIR NET, GATE, CEED and other national tests, and conduct an interview, to grant admission to PhD programmes.

It has also directed universities and helped institutions against advertising and conducting PhD Admission Test (PAT) and Research Entrance Test (RET) or Research Eligibility Test for the next academic session.

UGC communication cited in order

The state government's order cited a UGC communication dated March 28, 2024, which stated that the NET scores would replace separate entrance tests (SATs) organised by the universities from the academic session 2024-25.

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The decision was made to assist students to appear in one national entry test for entry to PhD programmes under implementation of NEP 2020. The instruction has been issued after receiving approval from the competent authority and the same was sent to the concerned authorities, private universities and the state aided universities for appropriate action.