The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to keep a PhD degree as the mandatory qualification for teaching at the university level, for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor, July 2021 onwards.
Teachers will also have to undertake a mandatory, month-long, induction program before starting work and will also have to mentor students for two hours a day for community development/extracurricular activities.
The government has has decided to do away with the Academic Performance Indicator (API)-based appraisal that has been a cause of controversy multiple times recently. They have now introduced a simplified teacher evaluation grading system, and have added to that the academic/research score, for universities to improve research output.
Promotion in colleges, up to the position of Associate Professor, will be based on the teaching-centric metrics and at university level, on teaching and research-centric metrics.
A PhD has also been decided on as mandatory for promotion to the level of Assistant Professor (Selection Grade) in universities from July 2021.
The HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the above mentioned changes in rules and administration on the
13th of June, 2018. “These changes have been made to attract and retain the best quality teachers and other academic staff in Universities and Colleges,” he said.
Officials say a Master’s degree with NET or PhD will continue to be the minimum eligibility requirement for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professors in colleges.
Earlier, for direct recruitment to universities, a PhD was not mandatory; one could get recruited even if they just had a Master’s degree and had cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).
The announced changes are a part of the soon-to-be-announced “Minimum qualifications for appointments of teachers in universities and colleges and measures for maintenance of standards in higher education”.
Teachers who will contribute by providing content on the SWAYAM (massive open online courses) platform will also be given weightage under the career advancement scheme (CAS).
A special category of medal winners in Olympics, Asian Games, and Commonwealth Games has been added to the eligibility criteria for appointment as the assistant / college director for physical education and sports and as deputy director for physical education in universities, to promote sports in universities and colleges.
Under the new assessment criteria more focus will be put on teaching, and a relaxation of two hours would be given on weekly basis to those involved in extension activities and research.
