UGC relaxes norms for women, disabled doing MPhil, PhD - Source Apr 13 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai)

Apr 13 2016 : The Times of India (Mumbai) UGC relaxes norms for women, disabled doing MPhil, PhD New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK   Acting on suggestions made by HRD minister Smriti Irani last week, the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Tuesday decided to relax criteria for women and disabled candidates pursuing MPhil and PhD degrees. Women and those with more than 40% disability will now get a year extra to complete their MPhil papers and two years more to submit PhD theses. All women candidates will also be provided maternity leave and child care leave for up to 240 days once while they pursue these two degrees. In case a woman MPhil or PhD scholar has to relocate due to marriage or otherwise, research data will be allowed to be transferred to the university which she intends to join provided all other conditions in these regulations are met and the research work does not pertain to a project secured by the parent institutesupervisor from any funding agency .The scholar will give credit to the parent guide and institute for the research that she has already done. In another decision, the full commission of the UGC has decided that award of degrees to those registered for MPhil PhD programmes prior to July 11, 2009, will be governed by provisions of the then existing ordinancesbylawsregulations and will be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of national eligibility teststate level eligibility test for recruitment and appointment of assistant professors or equivalent posts. The UGC has decided that those registered for MPhilPhD pro grammes before July 11, 2009, will be governed by rules that existed then for appointment as assistant professors or for such posts in universitiescolleges and other higher educational institutions, subject to a few conditions. This includes PhD degree of a candidate should have been awarded in regular mode only , PhD thesis should have been examined by at least two external examiners, open PhD viva voce of the candidate should have been conducted, candidate should have published two research publications from hisher PhD work out of which at least one must have appeared in a refereed journal and candidate should have made at least two presentations in conferencesseminars based on hisher PhD work. In 2010, the regulation of July 11, 2009, was amended by which NET state level eligibility test was made mandatory uniformly . Many who had got jobs without NET faced the threat of losing them, resulting in widespread agitation in Uttarak hand, Bihar and other states. The UGC also decided that a college which is accredited with the highest grades in two consecutive cycles and also secures the highest accreditation grade in the third cycle from the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) will be granted autonomous status provided it obtains no objection certificate from the affiliating university and also adheres to UGC regulations on ragging, promotion of equity and fast grievance redressal system. These institutions will enjoy autonomy and freedom to design curricula, prescribe syllabi, assess student performance, and declare results. They will have their own Board of Studies Academic Council which will oversee the academic functioning of the institution. It was also decided that if an institution is accredited with highest grade in two consecutive cycles by NAAC and also secures the highest grade in 3rd cycle, the validity of ac creditation period will be seven years instead of five years and the validity will remain to be seven years for each cycle if the institution gets a highest grade in subsequent cycles. Click To Enlarge