The prospectus for PhD admission to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has sparked a row, with students and teachers decrying the "lack of clarity" around the process and the "decline" in the number of seats.
Students have claimed that the total number of PhD seats across centres in JNU will decline by 32 per cent from the academic year 2022-23 and many centres plan to fill all the seats with students selected for Junior Research Fellow (JRF), as stated in a report by PTI.
Moreover, teachers and students at the university have raised concerns over the lack of clarity with regards to the starting of the admission process. There was no immediate response from the administration, as per PTI.
JNU PhD admissions
JNU recently released the PhD prospectus for the academic session 2022-23, according to which admissions will be based on merit. The candidates seeking admission into PhD programmes have to appear in the Computer Based Test (CBT).
The prospectus however mentioned that there are other criteria for students to clear before being shortlisted for the next step. "It is to be noted that merely qualifying in the CBT does not entitle the candidates to be shortlisted for viva-voce examination. Shortlisting of the candidates to be called for viva-voce shall be done as per the following criteria," the prospectus mentioned, as per PTI. The detailed list of conditions to be met are available on the official website jnuee.jnu.ac.in.
The JRF-qualified candidates will be exempted from CBT. They are required to apply separately under the JRF category. Such candidates shall be shortlisted and called directly for viva-voce, as per PTI.
What are their demands?
While a section of students are saying that the university should retake the responsibility of conducting the entrance examination from the National Testing Agency (NTA), another section is demanding that the NTA should continue conducting the entrance exams for PhD admission.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) submitted a memorandum to Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit on Saturday, September 3 and said that the PhD admission prospectus, which was released last week "due to our unrelenting struggle", has many discrepancies.
"A 32-per cent decrease in PhD seats, zero PhD seats in many centres, 100 per cent seats via the JRF category in many centres like the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, increased percentage of JRF seats for PhD admission," read the memorandum.
Meanwhile, the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) also staged a demonstration on Tuesday, September 6, demanding that the restoration of academic autonomy of universities and the responsibility of conducting examinations be given back to the JNU.
The JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) has also alleged that admissions to the university's prestigious PhD programmes are being administered with appalling shabbiness, as per PTI. "The fate of a JNU-specific JNU Entrance Examination (JNUEE), which the NTA has been conducting for the past three years, is as yet officially unknown, but it is a fact that despite the e-prospectus having been released on August 24, the NTA is yet to generate a weblink to initiate the process of inviting applications for the PhD JNUEE," the JNUTA said.
Additionally, the teachers claimed that the e-prospectus was released without the approval of the Academic Council, which is the statutory body that has the sole responsibility for all matters pertaining to admissions to the university.
The JNUTA demanded that the university authorities immediately inform the schools and centres, the boards of studies, and the Academic Council of the status of PhD admissions for the academic year 2022-23.
Meanwhile, the ABVP has demanded that the JNU administration should rationalise the number of seats for PhD admission through the JRF category and bring it down to par with the percentage of the National Eligibility Test (NET) and JRF-qualified candidates.
"Ask the NTA to conduct the JNUEE as soon as possible so that the academic calendar is not disturbed anymore," the students' body said, as per PTI.
