For the academic year 2017-18, in case the latest published data for PhD entrance exam is any indication, it is not going to be an easy competition for the coveted admissions at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). Admission processes for MPhil and PhD courses have finally been announced by the SPPU authorities, but the bad news is, the number of vacancies is less than half the number of seats available last year. July 26 will mark the beginning of the process.
Where a sum of 2,035 seats are available for PhD, for MPhil aspirants, only 265 seats are available. In the past year, the vacancy was for 5,000 seats, aspirants for which summed up more than 13000. With this fall in vacancy, the competitions has become a lot tougher.
Students will be able to fill online forms between July 26 to August 14 through the varsity’s website, as announced by Uttam Chavan, deputy registrar, SPPU. Entrance test for both these exams will be held on September 10 and the result will be published online on the same day. Nevertheless, the merit list of selected candidates would be declared after considering the cumulative scores of the entrance exams and personal interviews.
Chavan, when inquired about the cut in vacancy, revealed that it was most likely that the existing guides had a maximum number of students enrolled under them for PhD and MPhil research because of which they cannot take new students since every guide has a maximum prescribed limit.
There could be another big reason for this change, viz, the new guidelines that the University Grants Commission (UGC) has provided for PhD, MPhil admissions this academic year, which says that an associate professor and an assistant professor with three years of minimum experience, who could guide up to 8 PhD students at a time, can now guide maximum six students.
SPPU vice-chancellor N R Karmalkar clarified, “Earlier, irrespective of being a professor, an assistant professor or a lecturer, all guides could take up to eight students. Now, due to the new UGC guidelines, the number of vacancies has shrunk because the permissible limit for taking students is lesser for associate and assistant professors who form the bulk of PhD guides. Also, the applications of guides who have applied to become mentors may not have been processed in the interim period owing to the transition to the new Maharashtra Universities Act. However, since the Act is now in place, some applications have been accepted recently and this number of available vacancies may rise owing to the approval of newer guides or renewal of old guides.”
As for the entrance test paper, the exam will come in two parts of 50 marks each, where the first paper will be on research methodology and subject-specific questions will dominate the second part. One question will be carrying one mark and there is with no negative marking.
READ: Ministry of Ayush grants title ‘Centre of Excellence’ to SPPU dept
READ: GST implementation changes syllabi in Pune University, colleges; crash courses’ demand hikes