Telangana: NET timetable puts off students

HYDERABAD: The notification for the National Eligibility Test (NET) released by University Grants Commission (UGC) was greeted with a lot of disapproval by students.

Although it was initially announced that the exam would take place only ‘annually’ as opposed to ‘biannually’ earlier, students expected the exam to be held in July.

“It was initially anno-unced that the notification for the July exam will be announced in June but now the notification has been released for November. For recent graduates, this decision has come as a blow. Many coaching centres had also started classes for the June session. It means the loss of a year,” says Shruthi S, a student.

Students claim that with exam being conducted once a year, the number of students who clear it will be halved and with 6,00,000 students appearing for the exam at each attempt, the competition would grow even more fierce.

“The UGC has also decided to pick the top 6 per cent as opposed to 15 per cent earlier, which is another move that will affect a lot of students. According to the new regulations of UGC, any university that doesn’t come in the top 50 of national ranking or doesn’t have a high NAAC score, cannot accept PhD scholars who haven’t cleared NET. So by delaying this year’s exam, many students are losing their chance of joining for a PhD in the upcoming year,” says Parvin Saif, a student.  

The online registration will begin on August 1 after a detailed notification is released on July 24. The last date for online submission is 30th August. The exam will be on November 19.