NEW DELHI: Retired professors and international students who wish to pursue MPhil or PhD will not be entitled to non-NET fellowships provided by the University Grants Commission for conducting research. The University Grants Commission (UGC) offers National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowships under which junior research fellows receive, for the first two years, Rs 25,000 per month and 30 per cent house rent allowance (HRA) as well as a contingency grant for each year.
Senior research fellows receive, for three years, Rs 28,000 per month, 30 per cent HRA and a contingency grant for each year. Non-NET fellows receive monthly grants of Rs 5,000 for MPhil and Rs 8,000 for PhD.
"The commission has been receiving requests from various individuals through RTI applications or grievances forms regarding admissibility of the scheme of UGC non-NET fellowships to retired professors for doing MPhil/PhD programme as well to foreign/NRI/overseas students," UGC said in a circular. "It has been decided as a policy decision that retired professors and foreign students are not eligible to receive fellowship under the UGC scheme of non-NET fellowships," it added.
Citing shortage of funds, the Commission had announced discontinuation of non-NET fellowships in 2015 inviting widespread protests from students across the country. The HRD Ministry had then appointed a review committee to look into the issue.