A candidate may soon be eligible to become a teacher at a university or college without having pursued a bachelor’s or master’s degree in the relevant subject if new regulations proposed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) are approved.
According to the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges, and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations 2025, a candidate’s subject in the National Eligibility Test (NET) or PhD will be the criteria for his or her selection as a subject teacher in an institution. The UGC has invited feedback from stakeholders by February 5, after which the rules will be finalised.
The draft regulations seek to amend the minimum qualifications laid down in 2018. The 2018 guidelines required candidates to have a master’s degree in the “concerned/relevant/allied” subject with at least 55 per cent marks and to have cleared the NET, or the state-level entrance test (SET), or a PhD to be eligible for the post of assistant professor.
The new draft regulations relax the requirement for candidates to have studied the “concerned/relevant/allied” subject at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. Under the proposed changes, a candidate can be recruited as an assistant professor in the subject in which they have qualified in the NET or obtained a PhD, even if their undergraduate or postgraduate studies were in a different discipline. The draft also allows candidates with a four-year undergraduate degree (with 75 per cent marks) and a PhD to be appointed as assistant professors even if they have not completed a postgraduate degree.
“If the discipline/subject chosen in the four-year undergraduate programme (NCrF level 6) or postgraduate programme (NCrF level 6.5/7) is different from the chosen discipline/subject in NET/SET, the discipline/subject in which a candidate qualified NET/SET shall be considered eligible for appointment as assistant professor in that
discipline/subject,” said the draft rules.
Rudrashish Chakraborty, a faculty member of Kirori Mal College under Delhi University, said: “It is a massive dilution of the quality of faculty by doing away with specialisation in a core discipline. The recruitment criteria endorses the National Education Policy’s emphasis on the common courses which are poor and substandard.”
The proposed draft rules say the selection committee’s decision will be final irrespective of qualification, publications and past teaching experience. The rules of 2018 gave certain weightage to qualifications, publications and experience. Chakraborty said the process of shortlisting candidates for interview and final selection is opaque under the proposed rules.
Rajesh Jha, a faculty member of Rajdhani College under Delhi University, said the proposed draft rules seek to allow a master’s degree holder from the science discipline to teach political science in a college or university if he has qualified NET in political science.
“It means qualifying the objective MCQ-based NET would mean greater learning in the subject than an actual degree. This provision would dilute the standard of the academic degree and the NET,” Jha said.
Relief for upper castes
Under the rules of 2018, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were getting a relaxation of 5 per cent on the qualifying marks of 55 per cent in MA to become eligible for an assistant professor’s job.
There was no relaxation for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) among the upper castes who get 10 per cent reservation now. The proposed rules seek to extend the 5 per cent relaxation on the 75 per cent cut-off at the undergraduate level and the 55 per cent cut-off at the postgraduate level to ESW candidates along with SC, ST and OBC candidates.
VC appointments
The draft regulations also seek to dilute the criteria for the appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs). The 2018 rules specified that a VC should be a distinguished academic with at least 10 years of experience as a professor or in a reputable academic research or administrative role.
The new rules broaden eligibility, allowing individuals with a minimum of 10 years of experience as a professor, in senior positions within research or academic organisations, or at senior levels in industry, public administration, or public policy, provided they have demonstrated leadership and scholarly contributions.
“The changes in the VC appointment provision will allow industry people to get into academia and control the public institution. There is little academic freedom if persons from industry become VCs. Public education has already become costly for the poor. It will be beyond the reach of the poor gradually,” Jha said.
