According to the UGC, doctoral candidates from the top 500 universities are now directly eligible for the direct recruitment as assistant professors in Indian Universities. Rankings provided by the world university ranking systems -- Quacquarelli Symonds (QS ranking), Times Higher Education rankings (THE ranking) and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University will be taken into consideration.
“The direct recruitment eligibility of international Ph.D. holders is applicable for the disciplines of arts, commerce, humanities, education, law, social sciences, sciences, languages, library science, physical education, journalism and mass communication. This will help students learn from global talent in India itself,” a senior University Grants Commission (UGC) official said.
Earlier, candidates with minimum 55 percent marks in the Ph.D. in the concerned subject from the Indian university or accredited foreign university were eligible for the post. Along with the minimum marks requirements, candidates were also required to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC or the CSIR or similar tests by the UGC such as SLET, SET.
The Ph.D. holders from the Indian University with minimum required marks are eligible for the direct recruitment but for the international Ph.D. holders, UGC has waived off the minimum requirements. “The direct recruitment eligibility only grants candidates an exemption from the written test but their performance in the interview will be a deciding factor for their appointment,” the official added.