Uphill task: Patna University will follow new PhD norms laid down by UGC from the next session

Patna, Nov. 9: Getting a doctoral degree could become a tad more difficult with Patna University finally agreeing to follow from the next session the new PhD norms laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The guidelines, announced by the UGC in 2009 in a bid to cut malpractice and weed out students who don’t make the cut, were not adopted by Patna University as neither the syndicate nor the senate had given their seal of approval.

Sudipto Adhikari, a senior teacher at the varsity said: “Under the new norms, a student has to appear in a pre-PhD test, which will be followed by an interview where aspirants will discuss their area of research. Moreover, a student has to do course work for at least a semester, which will be treated as pre-research preparation.” The interview panel will provide the students the names of some teachers under whom he or she can pursue the PhD.

At present, there is no provision for course work and aspirants just need to qualify in the pre-PhD examination and thereafter choose a teacher who would supervise their thesis. Some premier universities and central universities have set some basic standards but in many universities, there is no bar on the number of PhD students.

Randhir Kumar Singh, a teacher at Patna College, said: “At present, around 200 students enrol for PhD every year and of them, around 90 per cent get the degree. But with introduction of the new norms, getting a PhD degree will be difficult.”

The UGC norms do not cover MPhil students.

A section of university teachers had opposed the new rules, claiming that the institution lacked resources and manpower necessary for their implementation.

Last month, the senate passed the proposal for introduction of the new norms. Patna University vice-chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh said: “We have finally decided to introduce UGC guidelines in PhD from the 2012 session.”

The proposal has now been sent to Raj Bhavan for final consideration, as the governor is the ex-officio chancellor of the university. “Once Raj Bhavan gives its consent, the norms can be introduced from the next session,” said a university official.

In 2009, alarmed by reports of malpractices in the process of getting a PhD, the UGC introduced a new set of norms for obtaining the degree and sent circulars to all universities.

S.I. Ahson, the then pro-vice-chancellor of Patna University, constituted a committee that was assigned the work to study the provisions of the new guidelines. However, the proposal was turned down by the university’s academic council, which argued that the UGC guidelines were not feasible for the varsity.

The council’s main contentions were: who would conduct the course work for students and why the student would not have the freedom to choose his or her PhD supervisor. The council also argued that with the introduction of the norms, research work would require a large amount of money and it would be difficult for Patna University to meet the expenditure.

At the same time, Raj Bhavan formed a committee headed by Shamshad Hussain, a former vice-chancellor of Magadh University, to examine the various provisions under which the new PhD norms could be implemented in Patna University. In 2011, the UGC again sent the PhD norms for reference to Patna University.

At the varsity academic council meeting in October, the new guidelines were passed by the academic council with some modifications. Some of the modifications are that varsity students, at the end of their PhD, will not have to appear in a test but will have to present a seminar comprising a panel of teachers who are distinguished in the subject in which the student has completed his or her dissertation.

Adhikari said students would have to put in a lot of hard work just to qualify for a PhD course. “Getting a PhD degree will be difficult. A student, after clearing the pre-PhD test, has to appear in an interview where aspirants will discuss his or her research area. Moreover, a student has to do course work for at least six months which will be treated as pre-research preparation.” During the course work, a student will have to prepare a methodology for conducting his or her research and also a review of literature. By review of literature, a student has to find out at what level research has been done on the subject he or she has picked.

V.S Dubey, a senior teacher at Patna Science College, said: “Under the new system, there won’t be any chance of favouritism. There will be transparency in the entire process.”

“It will also be mandatory for a student to publish a research paper in a referred journal. The thesis will be evaluated by two experts, including one from outside the state, followed by a viva-voce examination,” Dubey said.

Cases of malpractice are not uncommon now with many students plagiarising theses submitted in other universities. “Many students submit the thesis paper of students from other universities, making only slight modifications,” added Dubey. However, the new guidelines seek to weed out such practices as a student has to submit the thesis online on the UGC website.