(i) The University Grants Commission holds a National Level Test on a date of June, for determining the eligibility of Indian national candidates for the award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRF) and for determining eligibility for recruitment of Lectures in Universities and Colleges in the subjects falling in the Faculties of Humanities (including languages) Social Sciences & others. Candidates qualifying for JRF will also be eligible for lectureship. However, candidates qualifying exclusively for eligibility for Lectureship will not be considered for award of JRF.
(ii) Candidates who qualify for Junior Research Fellowship award are eligible to do interdisciplinary research in the related subject of their Post-graduation and they will be eligible for Lectureship in the specialised interdisciplinary field after obtaining Ph.D in it.
- Junior Research Fellowship: Candidates qualifying for the award of Junior Research Fellowships will be eligible to receive fellowships of the UGC under various schemes subject to finding their placement in the University/IIT.
The validity of the offer is one year w.e.f. the date of issue of JRF award letter. However, in case the candidates have already joined M.Phil/Ph.D. the date of commencement of fellowship will be from the date of declaration of NET examination result.
The amount of the fellowship is Rs. 5,000 per month at present. The progress of the research work done by a JRF on the completion of two years of the award may be assessed as per the procedure laid down by the Commission. The fellowship may be withdrawn if the work is not considered satisfactory. The fellowship for the third and subsequent years will be Rs. 5,600 per month. Candidates who will qualify the test for eligibility for Lectureship will be governed by the rules and regulations for recruitment of Lecturers of the concerned Universities/Colleges/State Governments, etc. Candidates qualifying JRF shall avail the award within one year from the date of issue of the award letter.
- Conditions of Eligibility:
- Candidates other than SC/ST category should have secured at least 55% marks (without grace) in Master’s Degree (or) equivalent examination in Humanities (including languages) and Social Sciences, Computer Applications, Electronic Sciences, etc., are eligible for this test. For SC/ST Category candidates those who have secured at least 50% marks (without grace) in Master’s degree are eligible for this test.
- Those candidates who have been secured 54.99% marks and below (even 49.99% marks and below for SC/ST candidates) in Master Degree Examination are NOT eligible for this Test. There is no provision of Rounding up of Marks to make it 55% (50% for SC/ST).
- Candidates who have appeared (or) will be appearing at the qualifying Master’s Degree examination and whose result is still awaited (or) candidates whose examinations have been delayed may also apply for this test. However, such candidates will be admitted provisionally and shall be considered eligible for award of JRF/Lectureship eligibility only after they have passed the Master’s Degree examination (or) equivalent with at least 55% marks (50% in case of Sc/ST, category candidates). These candidates must submit their relevant P.G. Degree within two years of the declaration of the result of NET Exam.
- Candidates who have completed Ph.D and had passed Master’s Degree prior to 19 th September, 1991 with at least 50% marks (without grace marks explained above) are also eligible to appear in NET-Test.
- Candidates have to Appear in the Subject of their Post-graduation Only: The candidates whose Post graduation subject is not covered in the list of specified subjects he/she may appear in the subject related to the one he/she had at Post graduation.
- Age Limit & Relaxation:
- Junior Research Fellowship: Not more than 28 years as on a date of June. A relaxation upto 5 years is given in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC categories, physically handicapped and women applicants. Relaxation will also be applicable to the candidates having research/training in the related/relevant subject to the Post graduation, subject to the maximum of 5 years supported by a certificate from appropriate authority. 3 years relaxation in age is permissible to the candidates possessing LLM Degree.
- Lectureship: No upper age limit.
- Exemption (Eligibility for Lectureship): Candidates who have passed their M.Phil degree o submitted their Ph.D thesis on or before 31 st December 1993 or passed the UGC/CSIR JRF examination prior to 1989 or those who have cleared the State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) accredicted by the UGC for Lectureship are exempted.
- Examination Fee and Mode of Payment: For general candidates the test fee is Rs. 400. for Other Backward Classes, fee is Rs. 200 and for SC/ST/Physically Handicapped/Blind Candidates, it is Rs. 100. The fee should be paid in the form of a single crossed bank draft with six months validity in favour of the Secretary, University Grants Commission, New Delhi drawn on State Bank of India, Service Branch New Delhi (code 7687) New Delhi Only. Fee once paid will not be refunded.
- Scheme and Date of Test: (a) The test will consist of three papers. All the three papers will be held on a date of June, in two separate sessions as under :
Paper Marks Duration |
I |
100 |
1/ ¼ Hours (9.30 A.M. to 10.45 A.M.) |
II |
100 |
1/ ¼ Hours (11.00 A.M. to 12.15 P.M.) |
III |
200 |
2 ½ Hours (1.30 P.M. to 4.00 P.M.) |
Paper-I will be of general nature intended to assess the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate. It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, comprehension and divergent thinking. Paper-II will consist of short questions based on the subject selected by the candidate. These papers will consist of a test booklet containing 50 objective type these paper will consist of a test booklet containing 50 objective type items (questions). The candidates will have to mark their response for each item on the answer sheet attached at the end of the test booklet.
At the start of the first session, Paper-I will be distributed and the answer sheets will be collected after the allotted time. Paper-II will be distributed fifteen minutes after the end of Paper-I in the same session. Paper-III will consist of only descriptive type of questions from the syllabus of the subject selected by the candidate. The candidates will be required to attempt question in the space provided in the answer booklet.
A candidate who does not appear in paper I will not be permitted to appear in Paper-II/Paper-III.
(b) Syllabus of Test: The necessary information regarding syllabus for all the papers will be provided by the respective test centres.
- The Test centres with their respective code are given in the notifications. Application shall be addressed and sent to the Registrar of the respective test centres where they wish to appear in the test.
The last date for applying is normally a date of April. Examination is held in the month of June.
Notifications are published in February-March.
Please read Employment News for more details, names of centres, eligibility criteria and exact dates for filing applications as well as the date of the examination.
.gif){kind=small}