By Soumitra Pandit | IPU News
Kolkata, August 9, 2026:
The Government of West Bengal, Department of Higher Education, has directed State-aided and Private Universities and Aided Institutions to adopt national-level examination scores as the basis for admission to Ph.D. programmes, in line with the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
The directive, issued on 3 August 2026, refers to the UGC communication dated 28 March 2024 and the UGC's decision to use National Eligibility Test (NET) scores for Ph.D. admission from the academic session 2024–25.
According to the West Bengal Government notification, universities and aided institutions have been requested not to advertise or conduct separate Ph.D. Admission Tests (PAT), Research Entrance Tests (RET) or similar university-level entrance examinations for the forthcoming academic session.
Instead, institutions have been directed to use scores of UGC-NET, UGC-CSIR NET, GATE, CEED and similar national-level examinations, along with an interview, for Ph.D. admission, as applicable under the prevailing regulations.
The UGC's March 2024 notification had introduced three categories of NET eligibility: candidates may be eligible for Ph.D. admission with JRF and Assistant Professor eligibility, Ph.D. admission without JRF, or Ph.D. admission only, depending on their NET category.
The West Bengal directive stated that the measure is intended to promote uniformity, transparency and quality in Ph.D. admissions and reduce the burden of multiple entrance examinations on research aspirants.
Source: UGC Public Notice dated 27.03.2024; UGC letter dated 28.03.2024; Government of West Bengal, Higher Education Department, Notification No. 1178(45)-Edn(U), dated 03.08.2026.
Reported by:
Soumitra Pandit
IPU News