To promote innovation, the University Grants Commission (UGC) will now honor PhD researchers doing good research work. UGC has decided that every year the top 10 PhD theses from all the universities of the country will be selected and awarded. This initiative has been taken in view of the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 which emphasizes on research and creation of new knowledge. UGC has prepared draft guidelines regarding PhD Excellence Award. UGC will also take feedback about this from students, teachers and general public. The guidelines will be made public soon.
UGC Chairman M Jagadish Kumar said, ‘This initiative is aimed at recognizing excellent doctoral research work in various subjects. This is in line with the National Education Policy 2020, which considers the creation and discovery of new knowledge as important for the future of India.
Which university’s researchers will be eligible for this?
Researchers from all the central universities, state universities, private universities and deemed universities of the country will be eligible for this. There is also a rule that only those universities can participate in it, which are recognized by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and listed under Section 2(f) of the UGC Act.
Best 10 theses will be selected from these 5 streams
– Sciences (including agricultural sciences, medical sciences)
– Engineering and Technology
– Social Sciences (including Education and Humanities)
– Indian language
– Includes Commerce and Management stream.
Every year 2-2 PhD theses will be selected from these five faculties.
Universities can recommend one PhD thesis each year from five streams i.e. a total of five PhD theses. Every year, she can choose from among the PhD degrees awarded by the University in the convocation ceremony between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year.
The final selection will be made by a selection committee at the UGC level.
Also read: UGC gave good news to those doing SWAYAM course, also released the rules of the examination.
How will the selection be done?
Selection of top 10 theses from universities across the country will be very challenging. In such a situation, the selection process is divided into two stages. In the first phase, the screening committee formed at the university level will review the works of the researchers. After shortlisting the candidates, it will send its recommendation to UGC. After this, the selection committee of UGC will look at the list of universities and after analyzing it will make the final selection.
UGC will honor 10 researchers with PhD Excellence Award every year on Teachers’ Day, 5th September.
Bumper increase in those doing PhD
According to a study by UGC, there has been a huge increase in the number of students doing PhD in recent years. In 2010-11, there were 77,798 PhD admissions while in 2017-18 it increased to 1,61,412. Jagdish Kumar said that every year an increase of 10 percent was seen in the number of people taking admission in PhD.
