Students of Patna University have come out with flying colours in the National Eligibility Test (NET), conducted by University Grants Commission (UGC), this year.

More than 100 varsity students have qualified for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and lecturership in the test, the result of which was declared last week. The number of successful students this year is almost twice the number of candidates who cleared NET in June 2011.

This year, 25 students have qualified for JRF while 86 students have been selected for lecturership. The exam was held in December 2011. In the June test last year, 13 students from the university had qualified for JRF while 53 students were selected for lecturership. The number of students from Pat-na University in the December test was around 7,000, an improvement of around 1,000 from the number of candidates in the June exam.

Patna University vice-chancellor (VC) Shambhu Nath Singh said: “The good performance of students in the UGC-NET shows the improvement in the academic atmosphere in the varsity. Various motivational campaigns have been carried out by the university and respective departments to encourage students to pursue higher studies.”

The VC added: “Many departments have put up notices urging the students to apply for UGC-NET. Also teachers encourage students to take the test by apprising them of the guidelines.”

The varsity efforts have paid off as the number of applicants has shot up for the coming June 24 UGC-NET.

Patna University development officer Sanjay Kumar Sinha said: “For the June 24 test, we have issued admit cards to around 18,000 students, a jump of nearly 11,000 from December last year.”

The university will issue duplicate admit cards from June 21 to 23 to the students not receiving it by then, the officer added.

According to V.S. Dubey, a senior teacher in geology department, the increased interest of students in lecturership is a result of payscale revision on the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. “Students are seriously considering teaching as a career option as the pay commission has hiked the starting salary of a person joining the university as an assistant professor to Rs 35,000 (approx). Moreover, the job security in teaching is much more as compared to that in private firms.”

The state government has also hinted several times that it would recruit teachers in large-scale, as ma-ny varsities in Bihar are short-staffed. Several universities are functioning with just half the sanctioned strength of teachers.

Ankit Srivastva, a student at Patna University, said: “Soo-ner or later, the government would conduct recruitment of teachers at universities. In such a scenario, a student who has qualified NET has high chances of getting the job as UGC has made qualifying in NET mandatory for being a university teacher.”