Ranchi, Oct. 30: Postgraduates are making beeline to register themselves as PhD aspirants in various departments of Ranchi University (RU) as the entrance test barrier for research does not exist here anymore.

The new regulations formulated by the varsity for admission of researchers is pending with governor Syed Sibtey Razi. The regulation has provisions for the entrance tests but it cannot be implemented till Razi gives his nod.

To fill the void, old PhD regulations automatically came into existence with a verbal consent of RU vice-chancellor thereby allowing students to register themselves as a doctorate research fellow without clearing an entrance test and a quality pre-registration seminar.

“As many as 12 post-graduates have applied in my department for PhD. With old regulations in place, these students have applied without clearing an entrance test. Moreover, now a teacher can guide any number of PhD research scholars. We are in process of holding pre-registration seminars for them,” said A.P. Sahu, head of postgraduate department of geography.

RU sources revealed that as many as 250 postgraduates in 25 departments are waiting for registration in PhD. The students include those who have cleared entrance tests conducted in 2007. This is despite university discouraging the departments not to allow more registrations and wait for the new regulation to come in force.

“It was the abject failure on part of RU top authorities that since last couple of years they have been following new regulations, otherwise good in many senses, but without getting a mandatory approval from the state government and chancellor’s office,” said an aspirant.

A couple of months back chancellor’s office had issued orders to the vice-chancellors of all three universities (RU, VBU and SKMU) to keep in abeyance the new regulation till the same get vatted by the former as well as the state government.

The proposed new regulations brought into place a system of entrance test to qualify for registration in PhD programme, put a ban on maximum number of research scholars a teacher can guide and suggested many other reforms for improving the quality of research work.

A lecturer grade teacher was entitled to guide maximum four students, A reader had a limit of six and the professors were given a quota of eight enrolments under them.

Due to paucity of guides, the criteria of maximum students was revised and relaxed to five, eight and 11 for the lecturers, readers and professors respectively. Now there exists no such limit.

State higher education director Anjani Kumar Shrivastava told The Telegraph that the new regulations sent to him by the RU authorities have been sent to the chancellor’s office with certain modifications.

“An entrance test will be there. But now a retired teacher and also newly appointed ones (through Jharkhand Public Service Commission) can act as guide provided other eligibility criteria are fulfiled,” said Shrivastava.