Patna: Universities across Bihar are preparing for a major change in their PhD admission process, with doctoral programmes set to be restricted to candidates who have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).
The move follows new guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and was discussed at a meeting of vice-chancellors chaired by Arif Mohammad Khan on Sunday.
At present, universities in Bihar admit PhD scholars through two routes: candidates who have qualified NET and those who clear university-level pre-PhD entrance examinations. Officials said that once the revised UGC system is implemented, the pre-PhD qualifying route will be discontinued, allowing only NET-qualified candidates to register for doctoral research.
An official familiar with the discussions said the change was aimed at standardising admissions and improving academic quality. “Under the new system, NET will be the sole eligibility criterion for PhD admissions, bringing Bihar in line with national norms,” the official said.
The development comes alongside the introduction of a single entrance examination for PhD admissions across all universities in the state from the new academic session. While the higher education department finalised the proposal only in recent days, the decision to conduct a common PhD entrance test was taken by the state’s higher education council in 2023.
Officials said there had also been discussions on introducing a Bihar Eligibility Test (BET), modelled on NET, to determine eligibility for assistant professor appointments in universities and colleges.
According to senior academics, the UGC’s revised framework is expected to simplify the admission process for researchers and enhance academic standards. By placing greater emphasis on NET, the system is also likely to increase interest in the national examination and raise the overall quality of doctoral research in the state.
