New Delhi, June 11: A controversial UGC decision that virtually made thousands of PhD holders ineligible for appointment as college or university teachers unless they had cleared the National Eligibility Test is most likely to be withdrawn.

A source said the University Grants Commission (UGC) would meet next week to reconsider that decision, which exempted only those who had obtained their doctorates under tough quality standards similar to those implemented in July 2009.

The MPhil and PhD regulations the commission put in place in 2009 said persons aspiring for teaching jobs in universities and colleges would have to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET).

However, those who had done their doctorates under guidelines similar to the new PhD regulations or those already employed did not need to clear the tests.

But those pursuing doctorates in universities whose PhD guidelines deviated significantly from the UGC’s would have to clear the tests for appointment as assistant professors, the higher education regulator had said.

The commission also asked all universities to adopt the new regulations immediately.

The UGC set 11 criteria, including course work, evaluation of theses by experts from a different state and vivas. While the PhD guidelines of most central universities were similar to that laid down by the UGC, the guidelines followed by a majority of state universities had significant deviations.

This meant many who had done their PhDs from these universities were now virtually ineligible for college or university jobs unless they cleared NET or SLET.

The order led to protests from candidates and many universities, which said a large number of aspirants would be put at a disadvantage for no fault of theirs.

Another reason for opposing the tough regulations was they might aggravate the faculty shortage in universities.

Although some 12,000 students clear NET every year and about 15,000 qualify SLET, a source said the annual requirement of faculty would be around 50,000 in the 500 universities and 30,000 colleges across the country.

The UGC then set up a committee under former Madras University vice-chancellor S.P. Thyagarajan to look into the grievances.

According to the formula suggested by the committee, students who followed six of the 11 criteria in their PhD programmes would be eligible for being considered for faculty posts without being asked to clear NET or SLET.

A source said the UGC was most likely to accept the recommendation at its meeting next week and the previous order might be withdrawn.

Former UGC chairperson Sukhadeo Thorat, however, said the “relaxation, if any, is a stop-gap” arrangement.

“It may bring relief to those PhD holders who have done their PhD before July 10, 2009, or those who have registered for PhD before that date. But all universities will have to implement the new PhD regulations for future students,” Thorat said.