New Delhi: Students willing to join the PhD in Sanskrit at Delhi University (DU) will have to undergo an entrance test. DU’s Sanskrit department has decided to introduce an entrance exam for students applying for the PhD programme. Every year a large number of students apply for the programme, which led to the conclusion to conduct an entrance test. Since the application process for PhD has already started for this year, the entrance would be conducted next year onwards. Students who are not eligible for the junior research fellowship (JRF) would be expected to appear for the entrance exam from next year.
MM Agrawal, Head, Sanskrit Department at DU, said that University Grants Commission (UGC) has made fellowship compulsory for all students pursuing M Phil and PhD. This has resulted an increase in the number of research proposals in all the subjects. Every student who gets a JRF is eligible for a PhD. However, the departments are being directed to have 12 PhD seats for non-JRF students out of which six are for general category students and six are for students from reserved categories. Due to the limited number of seats available for students without JRF, the department mooted an entrance exam. As per the sources, last year the department had received 150 M Phil applications for 25 seats and more than 60 applications of non-JRF students for 12 PhD seats. The admissions were given on the basis of previous academic record and an interview.
The entrance test would be of 75 marks comprising multiple choice questions and 25 marks would be for the performance of the candidate in the interview. Agrawal, who is also the Chairman of DU’s Board of Research Studies in Humanities, observed that UGC’s decision to give fellowship to all students at the M Phil and PhD level has proved quite successful in terms of encouraging research. He informed that the Board of Research Studies in Humanities is considering the introduction of an entrance exam in all departments at the PhD level. There are 14 departments in the arts faculty and many other departments are also planning to hold the test, however, the decision is still in the pipeline.
