MF AHMAD
Daltonganj, Nov 25: There has been no PhD entrance test in Nilamber Pitamber university since 2017-18 and the students who have done their PG and have qualifying marks to go for doctoral thesis are not able to apply, according to sources.
They added that students desiring to do PhD courses have no choice but to wait for the announcement of the date of the PhD entrance test.
Sources called it a PhD jam in NPU where aspirants who have cracked PhD entrance tests wait for seats to fall vacant under the guide or supervisor.
A girl student having post graduate degree in English from this university requesting anonymity said, “I have much higher marks than what is required to be eligible for applying for the PhD entrance test but our university here is typically silent on the conduct of the PhD entrance test. We are already victims of the Covid pandemic and now when there is this kind of uncertainty about the conduct of the PhD entrance test, we have with us least of the hope to match with other PhD aspirants of other universities in India.”
The registrar Dr Rakesh Kumar said, “Teachers who are to be the guide or supervisors of the successful candidates who come through the PhD entrance test have their quota for PhD students with them full and hence new entrant has no space there with such guide or supervisor.”
“An assistant professor is to guide or supervise 4 research scholars, associate professor 6 and professor 8 and incidentally these teachers have packed to the capacity research scholars under them here in this university,” he added.
“Now tell me where will the new successful aspirants of PhD who crack their entrance test will go when they will find their guides or supervisors having a full quota of research scholars under them?” quipped the registrar.
Sources said it is almost a no-win situation for both the NP university and the students desirous to pursue PhD courses.
The pro-vice-chancellor Dr Deep Narayan Yadav said, “Several students have raised this issue. The university is concerned about it. I believe the university will try to find out a way under the directive of the vice chancellor Dr Ram Lakhan Singh.”
According to sources, students of this region are not inclined to do research work outside the NPU academic territory for the simple reason of too many problems coming to them in the university outside NPU as doing PhD is no longer an affordable exercise but a high-priced thing.
The secretary of the technical and higher education department Rahul Kumar Purwar said this issue has come to his notice and he will see how the concerned university handles this issue as it is incumbent upon every university to promote research and create such an atmosphere where research takes the lead but here in this university such clogging is unexpected.
