Why clearing UGC-NET is important

The University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi conducts UGC-NET for Junior Research Fellowship and eligibility for Lecturership twice a year (June and December).
Clearance of NET or UGC-CSIR is  necessary to be eligible for lecturership in degree colleges and university departments.  This is compulsory even for PhD holders if they have obtained the Doctoral degree without course work as stipulated by the UGC in its regulations. The UGC has notified the next UGC-NET.  The purpose of this feature is to provide an overview of the test and offer guidelines.

Submission of application

Candidates seeking admission to the test must apply on-line (www.ugcnetonline.in or through a link available on the UGC website, www.ugc.ac.in).  

-Download the Bank Challan Pro Forma from the above website or take a photocopy of the relevant portion from the UGC-NET notification in the Employment News dated April 10, 2010.

-Deposit the requisite test fee (General Rs 450; in the case of SC/ST/PH Rs 110; and OBC (central) Rs 225) in any branch of State Bank of India along with the bank charges (commission of Rs 20).

-Before applying online, the candidates must possess the following: (a) Scanned passport (pp) size photograph in JPEG format, and (b) Copy of the Bank Challan (fee receipt).

-Fill the application (online) carefully.  After filling the online application and before submitting the application online, the candidates shall take the printout of filled (a) Online application form, (b) Attendance slip, and (c) Admission card on separate A-4 size papers.  Then submit the online application.

-On the printout of filled online application including attendance slip and admission card, paste a recent passport sized photograph and sign across the photograph so that a part of the signature spreads over the application form beyond the photograph.  Besides, it should be duly attested by the Head of the University Department/Principal of the College/Class I Gazetted Officer. Sign where instructed and attach attested copy of SC/ST/OBC (non-creamy layer)/PH/VH certificate (if applicable). Attach certificate of educational qualification/ research experience (for age relaxation) and enclose the UGC marked copy of the Bank Challan.  Send all these to the Registrar of the University (UGC-NET Test Centre), from where you have opted to appear for the test. The documents should reach him on or before April 30, 2010.  The envelope containing the application with enclosures should be superscribed as, ‘UGC-NET for JRF and Eligibility for Lecturership, June 2010’.

Subjects: UGC-NET is scheduled to be conducted on June 27, 2010 in 93 subjects in Humanities, Social Sciences, Languages, Commerce, Management, Tourism, Computer Science and Applications, Electronics, Environmental Sciences, etc.  Complete list of NET subjects along with their respective codes is available on the UGC website.  In this regard, the candidates are advised to choose the subject of their Post-Graduation.  However, the candidates whose Post-Graduation subjects are not covered in the list of subjects may appear in a related subject.

Eligibility: Candidates who have secured at least 55 per cent marks (without rounding off) in Master’s degree from recognised universities/institutions are eligible for the test.  Candidates belonging to SC/ST/PH/VH (visually handicapped) and PhD holders, whose Master’s examination had been completed by September 19, 1991 (irrespective of the date of declaration of result) with at least 50 per cent marks (without rounding off) in Master’s degree, are eligible for this test. Candidates who have appeared or will be appearing for the qualifying Master’s degree (final year) examination and whose results are awaited; or candidates whose qualifying examinations have been delayed may also apply for this test.  

Exemption: Candidates who have been awarded PhD in compliance of the ‘UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure) for Award of PhD Degree Regulation, 2009’ (i.e. with course work for at least one semester), and candidates who have passed UGC/CSIR JRF examination prior to 1989 are exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor (i.e. Lecturer) in universities/colleges/institutions.

NET Centres: UGC is conducting the NET in 66 centres throughout the country and in Karnataka, four universities have been identified for conducting the test.  They are: Bangalore University (Centre Code: 06), Gulbarga University (Centre Code: 24), Karnatak University (Centre Code: 30), and Mangalore University (Centre Code: 38).

Scheme of Test: The UGC-NET consists of three papers (Paper I, Paper II and Paper  III).
nPaper I: This paper is common for all the candidates (irrespective of the subject of study at the Master’s degree level) appearing for the test.  This paper is intended to assess the teaching/ research aptitude of the candidate and also to test his reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness. The syllabus comprises 10 units drawn from different disciplines such as Teaching, ICT, Research, People and Environment, Educational Administration, etc.  

This question paper comprises 60 multiple choice questions of 2 marks each and the candidate has to answer any 50 questions.  However, the candidate should keep two important conditions in mind:  (a) In the event of the candidate attempting more than 50 questions, the first 50 questions attempted by the candidate would be evaluated, and (b) UGC has introduced, with effect from December 2009, negative marking at the rate of 25 per cent (i.e. for each incorrect answer, 0.5 marks will be deducted). The candidate has to mark the response for questions of Paper I on the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) sheet provided along with the test booklet. A candidate who does not appear for Paper I will not be permitted to appear for Paper II and Paper III.

-Paper II: This question paper consists of  50 objective type questions, each carrying 2 marks, and the questions will be based on the subject selected by the candidate. All the questions are compulsory. As in the case of Paper I, here also the candidate shall mark the response for questions of Paper II on the OMR sheet provided along with the test booklet. Even for this paper negative marking has been introduced with effect from December 2009.

-Paper III: This question paper consists of only descriptive questions from the subject selected by the candidate.  With effect from June 2010 UGC-NET, the question paper pattern of Paper III has been revised.  This question paper consists of four sections.  

Section I: Meant for essay type questions.  The candidates have to answer two questions, with internal choice. Each question carries 20 marks.  Answer to each question shall be upto a maximum of 500 words.  However, in the case of Science subjects, two questions carrying 20 marks each may be given in place of essay type questions.

Section II: Comprises three extended answers based questions on the major specialisation/elective to test the analytical ability of the candidate.  Questions will be asked on all major specialisations/electives and the candidate may be asked to choose one specialisation/elective and answer all the three questions.  Where there is no specialisation/elective, three questions may be set across the syllabus.  There is no internal choice in this section.  Each question carries 15 marks and answer to each question shall be upto a maximum of 300 words.

Section III: Comprises 9 questions and  all are compulsory, with each carrying 10 marks.  Answer to each question shall be upto a maximum of 50 words.  The questions will be definitional or seeking particular information.  However, in the case of Science subjects, short numerical/computational problems may be considered.

Section IV: This section requires the candidates to answer five carefully considered specific questions on a given text of around 200-300 words taken from the works of a known thinker/author.  Each question carries 5 marks and answer to each question shall upto a maximum of 30 words.  However, in the case of Science subjects, a theoretical/ numerical problem may be set. The questions are meant to test critical thinking, ability to comprehend and apply the knowledge one possesses. Minimum Qualifying Marks:   Paper III will be evaluated only for those candidates who are able to secure the minimum qualifying marks in Paper I and Paper II (see boxes).

However, the final qualifying criteria for JRF and eligibility for Lecturership shall be decided by the UGC before the declaration of result. For complete details, see UGC website, www.ugc.ac.in and/or refer Employment News dated April 10, 2010.