Career as a University and College Teacher Through UGC-NET

Suresh Verma

"Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world".
-Malala Yousafzai
Today in the age of Information,  Communication and Entertainment (ICE), teaching in Higher Education is one of the most challenging careers which necessitate quest for knowledge, research oriented mind, in depth knowledge of the subject, skills of classroom management and passion to cultivate values and social reform in society. It is not only inspiring, pleasing and rewarding job but also provides ample opportunity to influence, manage and shape lives of hundreds of students every year. If you are passionate to become a University or College teacher, you must be aware of forthcoming UGC NET. This examination which on behalf of University Grant Commission, the Central Board of Secondary Education is going to hold on 5th November 2017 for deciding the eligibility of Indian Nationals for Assistant Professor in Indian universities and affiliated colleges. Besides it also decides eligibility for Junior Research Fellowships in 85 Subjects. This exam is conducted at 91 selected NET examination cities at various parts of the country. After qualifying this examination for the award of JRF, you become eligible to pursue research in the subject of your post-graduation. All central and state universities, IIT's, Institutes and Deemed Universities usually select the JRF awardees for whole time research work according to their rules and regulations. But if you apply for eligibility for Assistant Professor, you will not be considered for award of JRF. Here you can opt for both JRF and eligibility for Assistant Professor. If you are interested, you can apply for this examination online from 11th August 2017 and the last date for applying online is 11th September 2017. You can pay the fees up to 12th September 2017. This time the CBSE has decided to use Aadhaar authentication at the time of submission of application form.
UGC in its new notification on 14th July 2017 amended its criteria of qualified candidates. Good news for the aspirants, now it is decided that 6 percentage of all candidates who appeared in the UGC-NET examination will be declared qualified. In last four of its NET exams, this percentage was 4.83, 4.96, 4.08 and 3.99 subsequently.
Current Scenario of Higher Education
Since time immemorial, higher education has been a significant factor to bring social and economic transformation in any economy of the world. At the time of independence, we have only 20 universities, 500 colleges with 2,10,000 students who were enrolled in various higher education institutes. After the independence, the emphasis was on expansion, inclusion and excellence of education. With the increase of its capacity, the rapid growth of private sector and use of technology, India is at present a home to 47 Central Universities, 359 State Universities, 260 Private & 123 Deemed to be universities and more than 36000 Higher education institutes in the country.
According to FICCI report 2016, Indian higher education system is one of the largest in the world who enrolled more than 700 lakhs students. Presently higher education sector is spending over Rs. 46200 crores and it is expected to grow at an annual rate of over 18 percent to reach 232500 crores in the next 10 years.
Why NET examination?
In order to determine eligibility for lectureship and to award Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and to ensure minimum standards for the entrants in the teaching profession and research, National Eligibility Test (NET) is conducted in Humanities (including languages), Social Sciences, Forensic Science, Environmental Sciences, Computer Science and Electronic Science. This time Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on behalf of UGC is holding the National Eligibility Test (NET). Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) is for candidates who desire to pursue research. The JRFs are awarded to the meritorious candidates from among the candidates' qualifying for eligibility for lectureship in the NET. JRFs are restricted to only those candidates who opt for it in their application.
System of NET Examination
UGC - NET Examination consists of three parts. Paper I is basically General paper with multiple choice questions. Paper II & Paper III are again of multiple choice question of the relevant subject you have chosen. There is no negative marking for general as well as subject paper.
Paper I aims to assess your capabilities in Teaching and Research aptitude which are the foundation for Higher education teacher. Some cognitive abilities are expected from teachers and they are tested through this paper which consists of 60 questions. It contains Objective type questions from Teaching aptitude, Research aptitude, Reading Comprehension, Communication, Mathematical and logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation, ICT, People and environment, Higher Education System- Governance, Polity, and Administration. Sixty (60) multiple choice questions of two marks are set in this paper, out of which you would be required to answer any fifty (50). If you attempt more than fifty questions, the first fifty questions attempted would be evaluated.
For passing NET examination, 40% marks in Paper I is mandatory which means at least 20 questions in this paper should be correct. If you belong to OBC (Non-creamy layer)/ PWD/SC/ ST class than you need 35% to pass this paper I.
Paper-II consists of 50 objective type compulsory questions based on the subject selected by the candidate out of the list of 85 subject areas. Each question carries 2 marks. For passing NET examination, you must require 40% marks in Paper II that are at least 20 questions in this paper should be correct. If you belong to OBC (Non-creamy layer)/ PWD/SC/ST class than you need 35% to pass this paper II.
Paper-III consists of 75 objective type compulsory questions from the subject selected by the candidate. Each question carries 2 marks. For passing NET examination, you must require 50% marks in Paper III that is at least 38 questions in this paper should be correct. If you belong to OBC (Non-creamy layer)/ PWD/SC/ ST class than you need 40% to pass this paper III.
All questions of Paper-II and Paper-III will be compulsory, covering entire syllabus (including all electives, without options). Amongst those candidates who have cleared minimum pass percentage, a merit list is prepared subject-wise and category-wise using the aggregate marks of all the three papers secured by such candidates. Top candidates (for each subject and category), from the merit list, are declared NET qualified for eligibility for Assistant Professor only. A separate merit list for the award of JRF is prepared from amongst the NET qualified candidates figuring in the merit list.
(The author is a senior faculty at Mass Communication Research Centre and UGC-NET Coach, presently associated with research at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya, Wardha, Maharashtra.) E-mail :verma.mcrc@gmail.com
Views expressed are personal.
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