Editor’s Note: Jawaharlal Nehru University has decided to implement the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degrees) Regulations, 2016 in spite of resistance from faculty and students. The notification prescribes that the written exam will be a qualifying round after which the admission will depend solely on the viva voce or the interview. This might make admission for SC/ST students tougher. Moreover, another clause in the notification will starkly reduce the number of students admitted in the University’s MPhil/ PhD programme. JNU Academic Council also alleged that the procedure for enforcing the notification has been bypassed. Students of the University, along with JNUSU and JNU Teachers Association, have been protesting against the implementation of the notification and also held a strike in this regard on January 17, 2017. As a response to the strike, the Registrar of the University has released a notice stating that the faculty members who participated in this regard will be penalised. Read the notice here:
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