UGC to conduct objective-type NET exam on June 24

New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) announced the holding of the National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) exam on June 24, 2012 for determining the eligibility for the award of Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and eligibility for lectureship in the universities and colleges run by the higher education body. It is the first time the UGC-NET test, held twice a year, will be conducted in objective-type questions mode.

UGC will conduct the NET exam in 78 subjects at 74 centres across the country. Post-graduate students who have secured 55% marks in their MA from the institutions recognised by the UGC in Humanities and Social Science, Computer Science, Electronic Sciences are eligible for the NET exam. Candidates who would be appearing for their final year MA exams are also eligible for the test.

Those who qualify for the JRF are eligible to pursue research in their disciplines and are also eligible for lectureship. The universities, institutions, IITs and other national organizations may select the JRF awardees for whole time research work in accordance with the procedure prescribed by them.

The UGC-NET test will consist of three objective-type papers. Paper I shall be of general nature, intended to assess the teaching/research aptitude of the candidate. It will primarily be designed to test reasoning ability, comprehension, divergent thinking and general awareness of the candidate. 60 multiple choice questions of two marks each will be given, out of which the candidate would be required to answer any 50.

Paper II shall consist of 50 objective type compulsory questions based on the subject selected by the candidate whereas Paper III will have 75 such questions. Each question in both the papers will carry 2 marks.

Candidates who were awarded their PhD degrees by September 19, 1991 are also eligible for a relaxation of 5% in aggregate marks for appearing in the NET exam.

To help the candidates prepare for the exam, the UGC website (www.ugc.ac.in) also has question papers from earlier NET exams. The link for the previous question papers is http://www.ugcnetonline.in/previous_question_papers.php.