Fields In Economics
University Grants Commission
University Grants commission, Bahadurshah Zafar Marg,
National Educational Testing (NET)
Landing a lecturer’s job, is quite a competitive game. For those with a Master’s degree with at least 55 percent marks, the first obstacle to cross is the bi-annual National Eligibility test (NET), held in June and December. (Mind you, this is only an “eligibility” test.) The UGC holds the test for 77 humanities and social science subjects, including languages. The commission and the Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR) together conduct the NET in chemical, life, physical, mathematical and earth, atmospheric, ocean and planetary sciences.
Anybody making the grade is cleared for fellowships and lectureships in sciences as well as humanities.
There are about 7,000 CSIR funded JRFs and Senior Research Fellows (You can become a SRF two years after becoming a JRF) researching in the country. Those with doctorates are exempted from NET, for a limited period only. Similarly, up to a limited period, M Phills are eligible to teach at under graduate level without passing the NET. And if your master degree in a discipline not covered in the NET, you may opt for an allied subject. Otherwise, the UGC grants exemption on a case-to case basis.
It’s best to write the NET during (final year) or right after your masters because Ph D work limits your focus to a particular area of research. The authorities don’t provide old papers. However, the syllabi are posted on www.ugc.ac.in and www.csirhrdg.res.in. Model question papers are available from CSIR. UGC NET’s paper I is meant to test your teaching and research aptitude and the CSIR test’s paper I (Part A) mental ability and broad awareness of basic scientific knowledge. Paper II (and III, in case of UGC NET) carry subjective-type questions from your chosen subject.
Salary of teachers in colleges and universities under the sixth Pay Commission:
Assistant professors (lecturers) – Rs 15,600-39100, + various allowances; Associate Professor – Rs 37,400-67,000 + allowances; Professors – Rs 37,400-67,000 + allowances
Fellowships
Junior Research Fellowship - Rs 12,000 a month + contingency grant of Rs 20,000 a year; Senior Research Fellowship (awarded two years into the JRF ship): Rs 14,000 a month + contingency grant of Rs 20,000 a year
Subjects under CSIR NET
General Science papers I (Section A); Chemical sciences Paper – I (Section B) and II; Earth Sciences Paper I (section B) and II ; Life Sciences paper I (section B) and II ; Physical Sciences Paper I (Section B) and II
Syllabus is of the MSc level but in paper I, standard of certain questions is of the high school to graduation level, irrespective of the discipline you choose for paper II. The upper age cap for JRF is 28 years, which is relaxed by up to five years in the case of Schedule castes/ schedule Tribes, women, physically handicapped and OBC candidates. CSIR gives SRFs directly to those with first class degrees in specified disciplines, and having the required experience. (from
NET test is for the award of Junior Research Fellowship and eligibility for lectureship. Last date: 7.11.08 Examination Date: 28.12.08 UGC will conduct the NET in 77 subjects at 66 Centres.
Candidates who qualify for the award of Junior Research Fellowship are eligible to pursue research in the subject of their post-graduation or in a related subject and are also eligible for Lectureship. The universities, institutions, IITs and other national organizations may select the JRF awardees for whole time research work in accordance with the procedure prescribed by them. The award of JRF will depend on the performance of the candidate in NET. The qualified candidates will also be eligible for lectureship. However, the candidates qualifying exclusively for lectureship will not be considered for award of JRF. Candidates who qualify the Test for eligibility for lectureship will be governed by the rules and regulations for recruitment of lecturers of the concerned universities/ colleges/ state governments, as the case may be.
Junior Research Fellowship: Candidates qualifying for the award of Junior Research Fellowship will be eligible to receive fellowship of the UGC under various schemes, subject to finding their placement in universities/ IITs/ institutions. The validity period of the offer is two years w.e.f. the date of issue of JRF award letter. However, in case the candidates have already joined M. Phil/ Ph. D., the date of commencement of fellowship shall be from the date of declaration of NET result or date of their joining, whichever is later.
Conditions of Eligibility:
(i) Only those candidates are eligible to appear in NET who have completed/ are pursuing a UGC specified Master’s degree.
(ii) Candidates who have secured at least 55% marks (without grace or rounding off) in Master’s Degree (or) equivalent examination from Universities/ Institutions recognised by UGC in Humanities (including languages) and Social Science, Computer Science & Applications, Electronic Science etc. are eligible for this Test. The Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/ physically Handicapped (PH)/ visually handicapped (VH) category candidates who have secured at least 50% marks (without grace or rounding off) in Master’s degree examination are eligible for this Test.
(iii) Candidates who have appeared OR will be appearing at the qualifying Master’s degree examination and whose result is still awaited OR candidates whose examinations have been delayed may also apply for this Test. However, such candidates will be admitted provisionally and shall be considered eligible for award of JRF/ Lectureship eligibility only after they have passed their master’s degree examination or equivalent with at least 55% marks (50% in case of SC/ ST/ PH/ VH category candidates). Such candidates must obtain their P. G. degree/ mark sheet within one year from the date of NET with required percentage of marks, failing which they will be treated as disqualified.
(iv) The Ph. D. degree holders whose Master’s level examination had been completed by 19th September, 1991 (irrespective of date of declaration of result) shall be eligible for a relaxation of 5% in aggregate marks (i.e., from 55% to 50%) for appearing in the Net.
(v) Candidates are advised to appear in the subject of their post - graduation only.
Age limit & relaxation:
Junior Research Fellowship: Not more than 28 years as on 1.12.08. A relaxation up to 5 years is provided to the candidates belonging to SC/ ST/ OBC/ PH/ VH categories and to women applicants. Relaxation will also be applicable to the candidates having research experience, limited to the period spent on research in the relevant/ related subject of post-graduation degree, subject to a maximum of 5 years, on production of a certificate from appropriate authority. Three years, relaxation in age will be permissible to the candidates possessing L.L.M. Degree. Total age relaxation on the above ground (s) shall not exceed five years under any circumstances. Lectureship: No upper age limit.
Exemption (Eligibility for lectureship):
(i) For M. Phil/ Ph. D. candidates: Net shall remain the compulsory requirement for appointment as lecturer even for candidates having Ph. D. However, the candidates who have passed their M. Phil degree by
(ii) For SET Candidates: The candidates who have cleared the State Level Eligibility Test (SET), accredited by UGC for eligibility for Lectureship, held prior to 1st June 2002, are exempted from appearing in NET. For SET held from
Scheme and date of test: The Test will consist of three papers. All the three papers will be held one day, in two separate sessions as under:
Session | Paper | Marks | Duration |
First | I | 100 | 1 ¼ Hours ( |
First | II | 100 | 1 ¼ Hours ( |
Second | III | 200 | 2 ½ Hours ( |
Paper – I: will be of general nature, intended to assess the teaching/ research aptitude of the candidates. It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness of the candidate. Paper – II: will consist of short questions based on the subject selected by the candidates. Each of these papers will consist of a Test Booklet containing 50 objective type questions. The candidates will have to mark their response for each question on the Optical mark Reader (OMR) sheet provided along with the Test Booklet. The detailed instructions for filling up the OMR Sheet will be sent to the candidates along with their Admit Card. Paper – III: will consist of only descriptive questions from the subject selected by the candidates. The candidates will be required to attempt questions in the space provided in the Test Booklet. The format of paper – III has been revised w.e.f. June, 2005 NET and is available on the UGC website www.ugc.ac.in .
A candidate who does not appear in paper – I will not be permitted to appear in paper-II and paper- III. Paper – III will be evaluated only for those candidates who are able to secure the minimum qualifying marks in paper-I and paper – II. Syllabus of Test: Syllabi for all NET subjects can be downloaded from the UGC Website. In case of Computer Science & Applications, Electronic Science and Environmental Sciences, the question papers will be in English only.
The national level Test for determining the eligibility of candidates for the award of Junior Research Fellowship/ lectureship in science subjects (Chemical Sciences; Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean & Planetary Sciences; life Sciences; mathematical Sciences; Physical Sciences) is conducted jointly with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. The candidates in science subjects desirous of availing LGC-JRF or obtaining eligibility for Lectureship in these subjects are advised to appear in the joint UGC-CSIR national level Test conducted by CSIR.
List of Subject: Anthropology, Archaeology, Arabic, Adult Education/ Continuing Education/ Andragogy/ Non Formal Education, Arab Culture and Islamic Studies, Bengali, Buddhist, Jaina, Gandhian and peace Studies, Computer Since and Applications, Criminology, Comparative Study of Religions, Commerce, Chinese, Dogri, Defence and Strategic Studies, Economics, Electronic Science, Environmental Science, Education, French, Forensic Science, Folk Literature, Gujarati, German, Geography, Human Rights and Duties, History, Home Science, Hindi, International and Area Studies, Indian Culture, Japanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Law, Library and Information Science, Labour Welfare/ Personnel/ Museology & conservation, Mass Communication and Journalism, Management Industrial Relations/ Labour Welfare/personnel management/ Industrial Relation/ Labour and Social Welfare/ Human Resource Management, Music, management, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Political Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Public Administration, Population Studies*, Punjabi, Prakrit, Performing Arts-Dance/ Drama/ Theatre, Persian, Pali, Physical Education Russian, Rajasthani, Sociology, Sanskrit Traditional Subjects (Including Jyotisha/ Sidhanta Jyotisha/ Navya Vyakarna/ Vyakarna/ Mimamsa/ Navya Nyaya/ sankhya Yoga/ Tulantmaka Darsana/ Shukla Yajurveda/ Madhva Vedanta/ Dharma Sastra/ Sahitya/ Purana-itihasa/ Agama/ Advaita Vedanta), Social work, Social Medicine & community Health, Sanskrit, Spanish, Tamil, Tourism Administration and Management. Tribal and Regional, Language Literature, Telgu, Urdu, Visual Arts (including Drawing & Painting/ Sculpture/ Graphics/ Applied Art/ History of Art, Women Studies. Note: The candidates who have completed their Master’s Degree in Geography (with specialization in Population Studies) or Mathematics/ Statistics are also eligible to appear in the subject “Population Studies”. The candidates who possess Acharya degree from any religious tradition or are M. A. in Comparative Study or Religions/ Religion/ Religious Studies/ theology shall be Eligible to appear for Comparative Study of Religions