UGC NET Guidelines Draft for Assistant Professors in 2025: Update!

Recently, the central authority UGC (University Grants Commission), responsible for conducting the NET exam has announced its new guidelines, proposing some changes to the applicability or requirement of NET score for application to assistant professor jobs in India. In a nutshell, the UGC has proposed eliminating the need to qualify for the NET exam to become eligible for the post of assistant professor in professional domains, i.e., ME, M.Tech etc. Yet, there is more to the news. Read further. 

UGC NET: An Overview!

Every year, approximately 12 lakh students appear for the National Eligibility Test (NET) exam to fulfil their dreams of becoming lecturers/assistant professors or researchers. The UGC NET exam is conducted twice a year by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to select eligible students for assistant professorships in government universities across India or junior research fellowships (JRF) as researchers in their respective domains.

However, due to limited seats, many candidates holding adequate and relevant qualifications, particularly in professional courses such as ME or M.Tech, fail to secure their position in the qualifiers list of the NET exam, leading to a lot of disappointment among young students. 

The Proposed Changes As Per Latest UGC NET Guidelines:

Proposed Change Number 1: Eliminating the need for NET Score for securing the job of assistant professors or getting promotions in the field. 

Proposed Change Number 2: Candidates with Post-graduation degrees in professional courses (such as ME, Or M.Tech etc.) with a minimum of 55% marks in the same, will be directly eligible for the role of assistant professor in their particular details. 

Proposed Change Number 3: The draft also mentions that candidates with a complete Bachelor’s degree (UG Degree - NCrF Level 6) with at least 75% marks, or a Master’s degree (3 Yr UG + 2 Yr PG - NCrF Level 6.5) with minimum 55 per cent marks (or equivalent) plus a PhD (NCrF Level 8) will also be eligible for assistant professor roles without the compulsion of clearing NET. 

To simplify it, what UGC wants to bring as a change here in the NET regulations is that whether you have completed your master’s degree in engineering, have done M.Tech, or have already finished your PhD, in all these cases, you will be eligible for the post of assistant professor in government university without appearing for NET Examination. 

Other than students, the newly proposed guidelines also seek to change the selection procedures, and promotion process for vice-chancellors, and principals across academic institutions. 

These new UGC NET guidelines are still under review and feedback from all the stakeholders is expected to arrive by Feb. 5, 2025. If approved, this step could bring many benefits to the students.