Conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), National Eligibility
Test (NET) is the national level entrance examination for postgraduate candidates.
NET is conducted for determining the eligibility of Indian nationals for the
Award of Junior Research Fellowships (JRF) and eligibility for Lectureship
in various Indian universities and colleges. National Eligibility Test (NET)
is conducted in 77 subjects at 66 selected university centres around the country. The
Examination is conducted in Humanities (including languages), Social Sciences,
Forensic Science, Environmental Sciences, Computer Science and Applications
and Electronic Science.
The national level Test for determining the eligibility of candidates for
the award of Junior Research Fellowship/Lectureship in Science subjects (Chemical
Sciences; Mathematical Sciences and Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean & Planetary
Sciences; Life Sciences; Physical Sciences) is conducted jointly with the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi. The candidates
in science subjects, desirous of availing UGC-JRF or obtaining eligibility
for Lectureship in these subjects are advised to appear in the Joint CSIR-UGC
Test for Junior Research Fellowship and Eligibility for Lectureship conducted
by CSIR.
Candidates who qualify for the award of Junior Research Fellowship are eligible
to pursue research in the subject of their post-graduation or in a related
subject. 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 award of JRF will depend on the performance
of the candidate in NET. The qualified candidates will also be eligible for
Lectureship. However, the candidates qualifying exclusively for Lectureship
will not be considered for award of JRF.
Candidates appearing in NET should clearly specify in the prescribed Application
Form whether they are applying for both JRF & eligibility for Lectureship
OR only for eligibility for Lectureship. Candidates who qualify the Test for
eligibility for Lectureship will be governed by the rules and regulations
for recruitment of Lecturers of the concerned universities/ colleges/ state
governments, as the case may be. Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/
Visually Handicapped(VH)/ Physically Handicapped (PH) candidates will be given
such special concessions as may be decided by the Commission. Candidates qualifying
for the award of Junior Research Fellowship will be eligible to receive fellowship
of the UGC under various schemes, subject to finding their placement in universities/
IITs/ institutions. The validity period of the offer is two years w.e.f. the
date of issue of JRF Award Letter. However, in case the candidates have already
joined M.Phil/ Ph.D., the date of commencement of fellowship shall be from
the date of declaration of NET result or date of their joining, whichever
is later.
The eligibility test at the national level may not be completely able to
represent the subjects which are regional in their character. Moreover, the
demand for enabling the candidates to appear for the Test in their own mother
tongue was also being made. The state governments and union territories were,
therefore, given the option of conducting their own Test for eligibility for
Lectureship at the state level. Thus was born the concept of SET, i.e., State
Eligibility Test for Lectureship Eligibility only. It is conducted both in
English and the vernacular.
