Now, NET certificates at your fingertips

e-certificate system to cut down time lag for issual from months to six days, says Kabil Sibal

“These e-certificates will cut down the time lag for issuing the certificate from six-eight months to six days,” Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said after inaugurating the e-certificate system here. Normally, it takes about four months for the UGC to respond to the requests from various institutions and employers regarding verification of NET certificates at the time of candidates’ seeking admission to PhD or being appointed at a college or university for teaching assignments.

“The time lag in the verification of NET certificates will also go down. It can now be done within 24 hours,” Sibal said, describing the initiative as “yet another step forward in e-governance”. The UGC has already initiated online registration of candidates for the NET examination so that all the necessary information with regard to the candidates is captured at the time of registration itself.

The information thus captured is proposed to be used for the award of these e-certificates once the results are announced.

“The candidates will receive an SMS alert on their mobile phones, the moment the certificate goes into their mail box. The password is protected. There is a unique bar code which helps in identification,” an official said.

The UGC conducts the national-level NET in June and December, to determine the eligibility for the recruitment of teachers as Assistant Professors in Institutions of Higher Learning and also for the award of Junior Research Fellowships.  

While about 5,00,000 candidates take NET each year, the number of fellowships awards under it has been gone up from 2,000 to 6,400 per annum since 2010. In June, 2010, 10,433 candidates successfully qualified the NET for Assistant Professorship, including JRF.