Why 'Occupy UGC' Is A Bad Idea

Is the University Grants Commission’s proposal to revamp non-NET fellowships justified?

The recent agitation against the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) decision to institute a selection criteria for non-NET (National Eligibility Test) fellowships has provided fodder for student political activists and created a media frenzy. Many people, especially those who aren’t involved in Indian academia, are not aware of the core issues which are further muddled by political bickering. This article attempts to explain the system to provide a context for further discussion on the topic.

The mandate of the UGC is to disburse government funds for education and research and to maintain standards to ensure that public money is spent efficiently. Ph.D. candidates are often referred to as “students” but it is, in fact, a time for scholars to train and simultaneously produce high-quality, original research to advance their fields. Therefore, it is absolutely valid for Ph.D. scholars, who are full time academic professionals, to expect fair compensations for their research output, which also helps attract talented students to pursue a career in research.

The NET was therefore instituted by the UGC to ensure uniform standards in research, especially because UGC funds that research with taxpayers’ money. This is to ensure that bright minds are selected and motivated to pursue research as a viable career option.

What is the NET?: Intent and Relevance

The National Eligibility Test (NET) is an all-India post-graduate level exam instituted by the UGC in 1988. The test is held in many Indian cities for 99 different subjects every six months (1,2) with the goal of setting minimum standards for students who will avail themselves of research opportunities or take up university teaching jobs.

Candidates’ eligibility is judged in two tiers. Thus the NET itself can be cleared at two different levels. Students who score the highest marks in the NET are referred to as Junior Research Fellows (UGC- JRF) (3). These students become eligible to receive a fellowship from the UGC if they carry out Ph.D. or M.Phil research from a UGC funded department. Winning a JRF is therefore highly advantageous for an aspiring scholar because many departments only admit JRFs for M.Phil. or Ph.D. programs. As of 2015, a UGC-JRF is paid INR 25,000 per month plus HRA and approximately 7000 candidates are declared eligible across all fields every year (3).

Students who don’t qualify as JRFs but still pass the NET are eligible to teach at a UGC funded institute but not eligible to get a scholarship from the UGC to pursue research. This level is referred to as Lectureship (LS) and is synonymous with “clearing the NET”. LS candidates must work part time (mostly as Teaching Assistants or temporary faculty) to support themselves if they choose to pursue a Ph.D. All candidates who have cleared the higher JRF level are of course also eligible for Lectureships but all “NET-cleared” candidates aren’t eligible for fellowships.

Clearing the UGC-NET at the JRF level is therefore prestigious and also useful for candidates to pursue Ph.D.s from non-UGC funded institutes. Other Indian institutes also use this exam as a filtering process to shortlist potential Ph.D. candidates, even though they don’t have anything to do with the UGC itself.

UGC Non-NET Fellowships: Rationale

Given the competitiveness of the UGC-NET, especially the difficulty many students have in attaining the JRF level, a new fellowship scheme was introduced by the UGC in 2007 for candidates who wanted to pursue a Ph.D. or M.Phil despite not qualifying for the UGC-NET-JRF. This is the non-NET Fellowship which awards these students a significantly lesser salary of only INR 8000 per month. The rationale was to encourage more students to pursue research.

While the UGC continues to pay the stipends of these non-NET scholars, it has no role in vetting them like it has for JRFs. Instead individual university departments select a fixed number of non-NET scholars and the UGC pays their stipends (5).

Revamping UGC Non-NET Fellowships:

There were long-standing demands for increasing non-NET Fellowships, especially given the disparity with JRF qualified candidates. In response, UGC has increased Fellowships over the years. UGC however, still has no means to judge the standards of the non-NET scholars who in any case have not qualified under UGC’s JRF standards (5). UGCs mandate holds it accountable for spending public money while ensuring research standards are maintained.

Thus the UGC recently decided to introduce a new selection process to award future non-NET Fellowships to ensure standards while paying research scholars a fair wage. This decision was met with protests from every student activist group (including the BJP affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) with the overall message that the UGC under the MoHRD under the Modi Government was un-funding research in keeping with its fascist attacks on academia in general. This is false because UGC has not touched the much higher JRF fellowships. It is, albeit clumsily, responding to a demand to raise non-NET Fellowships by setting up a new system to evaluate candidates (5).

Motives of Occupy UGC:

‘Occupy UGC’ opposes any selection criteria to award fellowships to candidates who have not attained JRFswith the most stringent protests coming expectedly from the Arts and Social Sciences (6). If UGC introduces a new test and pays only qualified candidates, like it does for JRFs, the departments will likely lose their clout to handpick their candidates and get them paid via the UGC. It however, goes against UGC’s purpose and mandate to keep increasing fellowships for candidates it has no means to select.

This does however give us the opportunity to re-examine research funding in India and consider if it can be streamlined and improved.

Analysis

No single examination can accurately predict the long term success of a researcher. However introducing the JRF criteria where scholars are paid directly by the UGC and not dependent on the whims and political intrigues of the faculty created a research-friendly environment for many candidates. Candidates find it easier to change departments and Ph.D. bosses due to the JRF process, thus facing less exploitation.

While research remains a labor of love, it is essential that bright minds are motivated and fairly compensated to conduct research to benefit society. It remains valid for all Ph.D. scholars to demand a fair wage. However, it does not behoove scholars, who have in any case not qualified for UGC’s JRF, to reject any attempt to be vetted by their funding authority. A research career only gets more competitive and its trials and tribulations will make any exam the UGC can dish out look like child’s play. Those aspiring to a research career must therefore rise to this challenge as they start their research careers and not look for excuses to wriggle out of it.

This two level JRF and non-NET fellowship for candidates who are paid differently but expected to complete the same standard of research is frankly strange. Therefore a revamp of the UGCs selection criteria is perhaps needed so it can better fulfill its role as a body intended to support education and research to benefit the nation. The current ‘Occupy UGC’ protests are misrepresenting the the research community and confusing the issue. It paints a picture of researchers averse to any evaluation and demanding taxpayer funded salaries while refusing to be vetted. Researchers should not live in poverty. Like all professionals, they too deserve a decent wage and will gladly prove themselves worthy of it.

References on next page

References

1. List of NET subjects http://cbsenet.nic.in/cbsenet/NETSubjectList.htm
2. NET eligibility criteria http://ugcnetonline.in/eligibility.php
3. NET results in Dec 2012 showing candidates who qualified the JRF and LS levels. Other years’ results can also be seen. http://ugcnetonline.in/eligibility.php
4. University of Delhi notice on the increase in the number of Non-NET fellows per department http://www.du.ac.in/du/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=4148&cntnt01returnid=83
5. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/508012/centre-plans-revise-non-net.html
6. Students reject MHRD proposal of making NonNET Fellowships merit-based http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Students-reject-MHRD-proposal-of-making-non-NET-fellowship-merit-based-OccupyUGC-protest-to-continue/articleshow/49519622.cms