This is the first time that admissions for PhD courses are being done through a Common University Entrance Test (CUET) by the National Testing Agency (NTA). However, the debut year of centralised testing for PhD courses has raised concerns among the student community regarding the complicated admission process and high fee structure.
This year, only four central universities, namely, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) have signed up for the common test. Students opine that this defeats the purpose of having a common centralised test in the first place.
Sanam Husain, a student of Jamia Milia Islamia who appeared for CUET this year for admission into PhD courses, said that as most central universities are still conducting their tests individually, the number of tests a student has to sit for remains the same, even after the introduction of CUET.
“When I was applying for CUET, the application fee was around Rs 1,500 but to check if I was eligible for an interview by JNU or not, I was again asked to pay an additional Rs 300. Then what is the point of having a centralised test? PhD is not like other bachelor's or master's courses. For this, you need to have a certain kind of understanding of the particular department and particular university you are applying to. You cannot target all the universities through one single exam when it comes to PhD admissions. Ideally, the professors are also supposed to know the candidates that they are selecting for an interview but that is not the case anymore,” Sanam opined.
Students are worried that the new changes in the admission process might affect the intake quality and academic quotient at the central universities.
“In my experience, I found that CUET has made the process very difficult and haphazard. For example, even the examination conducted by NTA was not very subject-specific. I am also applying to foreign universities for PhD and I feel that their admission process is much more student-friendly,” added Sanam.
Students further added that instead of simplifying the admission process, which has been the main purpose of introducing a common testing method, CUET has made the admission process for PhD admissions more haphazard and confusing.
Another student who appeared for the entrance exam this year, told EdexLive on the condition of anonymity, “After paying the application fee for the CUET and going through the test, individual universities like DU and JNU started to release their candidate list separately. Then, we were asked to fill out another registration fee and then pay the application fee for the individual universities to which we wish to apply. Even if you do not know if you have cleared the exam or not, you have to take the chance and pay another fee. Even after this, the universities conduct their own department-level test and interview process.”
The common entrance test for PhD admissions into central university was conducted between October 26 and 31, with the results declared on November 24. This year, around 51,000 students applied for the PhD admission out of which, close to 36,000 appeared.
