23-07-2025
Over 1400 professors holding M. Phil degree exempted from NET
Over 1,400 professors across Maharashtra, who are M. Phil degree holders, have been exempted from the National Eligibility Test (NET) as per the relaxation extended by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2022.
On Tuesday, the state higher and technical education department issued a government resolution, which came attached with the list of 1,421 professors, who will benefit from the relaxation from the NET qualification, a mandatory criterion for all professors. While all of them are already working professors in various state universities, they will now be eligible for career advancement schemes with this exemption.
All these professors are those who were appointed between 1994 and 2009 based on their qualification. A senior professor explained, 'After UGC introduced clearing NET as mandatory qualification for appointment of professors, many who were already appointed based on older qualification criteria were allowed to continue if they fulfilled certain conditions. One of them was if they have an M. Phil degree, such professors were allowed to continue despite having NET qualification.
This resolution too was brought after a lengthy struggle by professors affected by the changes. And finally, a blanket order was issued in September 2022 that all such professors who are appointed based on M. Phil degree between specified years will be exempted from the NET. But Maharashtra took the longest time to implement it.'
According to information shared by Bombay University and College Teachers Union (BUCTU), the state government insisted on individualised orders for such professors, despite having a blanket order from UGC.
'This process took a really long time as UGC asked the state to provide a list of names of professors who should be exempted. Now, finally, the GR includes a total 1,421 names of professors who are exempted from the NET qualification,' said a BUCTU member.
