The Jawaharlal Nehru University Academic Council has decided to ask its various centres to devise a method to test students for entrance to its Ph.D. programmes.
Earlier JNU students pursuing M. Phil programmes had to obtain a certain cumulative grade point average following which they could directly qualify for its Ph.D. programmes. Outsiders with an M.Phil degree had to appear for an interview while individuals without M.Phil. degrees had to present a synopsis of the proposed area of research.
According to UGC guidelines received by JNU an entrance test should be held for all students aspiring for Ph.D. This also includes JNU students pursuing M.Phil. However individuals with junior research fellowships can pursue their Ph.D. without writing a further examination.
The Academic Council meeting also decided to retain the admission policy of allotting five extra percentage points to female students for another year. However, the policy has reportedly caused the enrolment of too many girls in certain programmes and also urban girls are mainly benefiting from it. Thus the Prof. Rupa Manjari Committee had recommended that three percentage points should be allotted to girl students instead of five.
The Council, which met this past week, decided to retain the policy with regard to admission of girl students as it was felt that more time was required to collect data and analyse the impact of the policy.
The proposal for new research based centres such as the Centre for Nano-Sciences, Centre for Informal Business and Centre for Media Research was also approved.
