– Mita Mukherjee

The higher education department of West Bengal has decided to discontinue research entrance tests for PhD admissions in state-aided and private universities and directed the institutions to admit students in PhD programmes only on their scores in the UGC-NET, UGC-CSIR NET, GATE and other national-level examinations followed by an interview.

In an order issued by the department on August 3, the government said that the move to introduce PhD admission following national parameters aims to ensure quality, uniformity and transparency in the selection process so that students after completing the courses do not face problems in future.

In Bengal, universities admitted students in PhD programmes on the basis of separate entrance tests and in some universities, even different departments held entrance tests to admit students in their PhD programmes.

“In order to streamline the process and align with national standards, you are requested to utilise the scores of UGC-NET/UGC-CSIR NET/GATE and similar national-level tests, followed by an interview, for admission of students to the PhD programme…., Accordingly, you are hereby requested not to conduct PhD Admission Test (PAT)/Research Entrance Test (RET)/Research Eligibility Test (RET), etc., for the upcoming academic session,” the order issued to the universities said.

It will be mandatory for universities to adopt “scores of the UGC-NET, UGC-CSIR NET, GATE and other national-level tests as the basis for admission to PhD programmes in place of examinations conducted at the university level”, the order said.

The state government has taken the step to scrap PhD admissions through separate admission tests following some allegations of irregularities in the university-level examinations by RSS-affiliated teachers’ and student organisations, sources said.

RSS affiliated student and teacher bodies had earlier alleged that some universities like Jadavpur University which used their own Research Entrance Tests would often admit students of their choice even if the candidates did not deserve the seats.

Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) president Partha Pratim Ray said the state government order is “confusing”. He said Jadavpur University conducts the entrance exams in disciplines in which the University Grants Commission (UGC) does not conduct the required national level test.

“Ph.D admissions are held on the basis of UGC regulations. The UGC has clarified in its regulations issued in 2016 and 2022 that respective universities can conduct their own tests to admit PhD students. The UGC has so far never said that the individual universities cannot hold entrance tests. Moreover, in some subjects the UGC does not conduct any national-level exam for PhD admission. Then there are subjects particularly in science and technology, in which national level tests are held but we get very few UGC-NET, UGC/CSIR, NET/GATE qualified students. In some disciplines, say we have 40 seats, but we would get only seven or eight NET/GATE qualified candidates. In such cases we are forced to fill up the vacant seats through separate tests held by the university itself,” Ray told EducationWorld.

Meanwhile, officials of some state universities said that they had stopped admitting students who did not qualify the national level entrance tests to avoid troubles. Calcutta University has discontinued the system from February this year and Rabindra Bharati University did the same following the 2024 UGC regulations.

“We have stopped accepting PhD applications from candidates who do not qualify NET from February. We have already implemented the instructions that are mentioned in the August 3 order and we try to follow this for all disciplines,” Calcutta University vice-chancellor Asutosh Ghosh told EducationWorld.

But according to Ghosh, in certain subjects, NET or GATE provisions do not exist. “Like in Jadavpur University, at Calcutta University too there are disciplines in which seats in PhD prograame remain vacant as there no takers from NET qualified candidates,” Ghosh said.

Moreover, Calcutta University also accepts applications from candidates who clear the State Eligibility Test (SET) which is considered equivalent to the NET.

“There is no clear instruction in the order about how to admit students in which NET is not available and how to fill vacancies when sufficient number of NET qualified candidates are not available. Also, we need a clarification about the status of SET. We will soon write to the higher education department and seek the government’s opinion regarding these issues,” Ghosh said.

However, he welcomed the move to scrap PhD admission through separate tests by respective universities and admitted instances of irregularities in the said system.

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