Research admissions: JNU slashes number of seats

New Delhi: The students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) are in a shock after the university administration has slashed down the number of research seats in MPhil and PhD by as much as 83 per cent. 

Apart from the cut in the number of seats from 1,174 to 194, the university has scrapped the ‘deprivation points’ (points awarded to applicants from marginalised districts in India) for MPhil/Phd admissions.

According to an official, “The shortfall is not because of a paucity of applications, as in each centre/school for which information is available, there were enough applications. In most cases, there were enough candidates called for the viva-voce, all of whom should have got more than 50 per cent in the written examination.” 

He added yet, shockingly, only 53 per cent of the seats specified in the intake have been offered. He also added that only three SC, two ST and 13 OBC candidates have been offered admission in this current academic year.

While the JNU administration maintains that these changes are according to the University Grants Commission regulations specified in the May 5, 2016 notification, “the students said that this move jeopardises the university’s socially inclusive nature.” 

Meanwhile, as per varsity sources, there are no seats for the integrated MPhil/PhD course in physical sciences, computational and integrative sciences in this session. Students from Centre for Historical studies and English Studies haven’t taken a single MPhil or PhD admission this year.