Are you looking forward to appearing in the NET examination? Read on to learn more about the NET eligibility criteria for the UGC NET examination.
The NET is conducted to pick candidates for JRF and Assistant Professorship twice every year. To appear for the examination, every applicant needs to meet a UGC NET Eligibility Criteria. However, the criteria are different for both JRF and Assistant Professorship.
Every year the Commission releases the NET eligibility criteria and the UGC NET notification and online application forms on the official website. As mentioned above, the eligibility criteria slightly differ for Assistant Professor and JRF. Thus, interested candidates must go through the detailed eligibility criteria below carefully before they apply.
NET Eligibility Criteria
Before applying for the NET, applicants must ensure that they meet the eligibility for the test. Appearing candidates do not have to send any certificates/documents to the NTA to support their eligibility. NTA does not validate the info provided by the aspirants in the application form, so their application will be purely interim subject to the fulfillment of eligibility criteria. However, if the authorities spot any ineligibility at any point, the application will be rejected, and legal action may be taken against the applicant.
NET Eligibility: Educational Qualification
Educational Qualification
- Aspirants obtaining at least 55% marks in their Master’s Degree or equivalent from any recognized institutes/universities in Humanities (including languages), Computer Science and Applications, Electronic Science, Social Science, etc., can appear for this test.
- Aspirants that fall under the non-creamy layer of other backward classes (OBC-NC), scheduled tribe (ST), scheduled caste (SC), persons with disability (PwD), and transgender category have to obtain at least 50% marks.
- Aspirants enrolled in a Master’s degree program or are waiting for their result or whose final exams have been postponed can apply for the test. But these candidates will be admitted temporarily and will be considered for the JRF award or recruitment as Assistant Professor only when they will qualify for their Master’s Degree with a minimum of 55% marks (50% marks for reserved category).
- Such applicants will also have to finish their Master’s degree in two years from the date of the NET result with the required percentage. The failure to do so will result in disqualification.
- Aspirants with a Ph.D. degree whose Master’s level exams were finished before September 19, 1991 (regardless of the date of announcement of result) will be given a relaxation of 5% in total marks (i.e., from 55% to 50%) for appearing in NET.
- Transgender aspirants will be offered the same relaxation in age, fee, and qualifying criteria for NET (i.e., JRF and Assistant Professor) as given to SC/ ST/ PwD categories. The mandatory subject-wise cutoffs for the transgender candidates will be the lowest among those for SC/ ST/ PwD/ OBC–NCL in the respective subject.
- Aspirants are advised to select the same NET subject for Paper 2 as their specialization in Post Graduation. However, if your post-graduation subject does not fall in the 81 NET subjects, you can appear in a subject related to it.
- Aspirants having Post Graduation Diploma/ Certificate from any Indian University/ Institute or foreign degree/ diploma/ certificate secured from a foreign University/ institute should, in their interest, determine the equivalence of their degree/ diploma/certificate with Master’s degree from any recognized Indian universities from Association of Indian Universities (AIU).
NET Age Limit and Relaxation
The NET Age Limit and Relaxation for Junior Research Fellowship and Assistant Professorship are explained in detail below:
- Junior Research Fellow (JRF) NET Eligibility: Aspirants should be 31 years old or less as of October 1, 2021.
- Aspirants falling under OBC-NC, SC, ST, PwD categories, women and transgender applicants are given a relaxation of up to 5 years.
- Aspirants with research experience will also be given age relaxation equal to the years/ period spent on research in the concerned subject or post-graduation degree.
- Researchers will be given relaxation of up to 5 years and will only be offered on production of a certificate from the appropriate authority.
- Applicants with L.L.M. Degree will be allowed an upper age relaxation of 3 years.
- Applicants who have worked in the armed forces will benefit from relaxation of up to 5 years subject to the duration of service in the armed forces up to June 1, 2021.
- Total age relaxation on the conditions mentioned above shall not be more than five years under any circumstances.
- For Assistant Professor: There is no upper age limit.
All appearing candidates must go through the NET eligibility criteria once before applying for the exam. If any candidate fails to fulfill any criteria, their application will be rejected, and some serious actions could be taken against the candidate.
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