Changing your PhD supervisor in India: rules and procedure

Can you change your PhD supervisor in India?

Yes, you can. Guides retire, get transferred, fall sick, and sometimes guide and scholar just don’t get along. So every university has some procedure for a change. But you cannot start working under another person and inform the research cell afterwards.

Some reasons the committee accepts without much fuss. The guide retires, moves out, goes on long leave or passes away. A change in the direction of research is also common, though mostly the university adds a co-supervisor in that case. A broken working relationship is also a fair reason. It is just slower, because somebody has to decide whose version to believe.

Some things stay. Your registration date is not touched, and maximum duration is counted from that date only (our PhD timeline guide has the details). Normally the topic also stays, and any change to it goes to the RAC or DC. Cleared coursework is not asked again.

The new supervisor’s expectations will be different from the old one. Since the new guide have to sign your thesis certificate, they can rightly ask to look at the design again.

What do the UGC 2022 regulations say about supervisors?

The relevant part is clause 6 of the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022, titled “Allocation of Research Supervisor”. It talks about who can guide and how many scholars, and says nothing on how a change works. The points relevant for a scholar are given below.

• Clause 6(1): a supervisor is recognised only in the university that employs them, or its affiliated PG colleges. They “cannot supervise research scholars in other institutions, where they can only act as co-supervisors”. Any co-supervisor, from your institution or another, needs approval of the competent authority. Adjunct faculty can be co-supervisor only.
• Clause 6(2): for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary work, a co-supervisor from outside the department, college or university can be appointed.
• Clause 6(3) and clause 8: a Professor can guide up to 8 scholars at any time, an Associate Professor 6 and an Assistant Professor 4. Co-supervised scholars also count.
• Clause 6(4): a female scholar who shifts because of marriage or otherwise can take her research data to the new institution. Data from a funded project of the parent institution or supervisor is the exception, and she has to credit them for work done till then.
• Clause 6(5): faculty with less than three years of service left cannot take new scholars. They keep their present scholars till superannuation and then continue as co-supervisor, “but not after attaining the age of 70 years”.

Many times the vacancy limit is the thing that stops a change. A willing supervisor who already has eight scholars cannot take you. Clause 5(4) makes universities put supervisors and their scholars on the website every academic year, so see from that list who has a free seat before meeting anybody. Seats in a department come from this limit only, and our PhD admission guide talks about it. Each university keeps the list in a different place. Five Tamil Nadu universities run PhDs through affiliated research centres, and our guides show where to look for each: Madurai Kamaraj (Madurai), Bharathidasan (Trichy), Bharathiar (Coimbatore), Periyar (Salem) and Manonmaniam Sundaranar (Nagercoil).

The regulations do not let a scholar follow a supervisor to a new university, apart from the data provision in clause 6(4). Going along with your guide mostly means fresh admission there. So if your guide is leaving, first ask whether they can stay on as co-supervisor where you are.

How do Anna University and Madras University handle a change?

Two public examples from Tamil Nadu are given here. Your own university may be more strict or more relaxed.

Anna University, PhD Regulations R2025, section 8

• 8.1: if the supervisor is away for more than six months, a supervisor-in-charge looks after administration for up to a year. Beyond a year, the Director (Research) can make the supervisor-in-charge (with both supervisors’ consent) or another person your supervisor.
• 8.2: a retiring supervisor continues if your provisional registration is confirmed and you submit the synopsis within one year of the retirement. If not, an alternate supervisor is nominated.
• 8.3: a supervisor who joins another university loses recognition here. Still, they may keep guiding a scholar who is confirmed and has publications. A research coordinator then arranges the DC meetings and the viva-voce.
• 8.9 and 8.10: a change on “valid reasons” needs consent of both present and proposed supervisors. Without the present supervisor’s consent, a committee formed by the Vice-Chancellor decides, and its decision is final. Then you need at least a year with the new supervisor and a journal publication with them (as applicable) before the synopsis. Only one change is allowed, a second one only in extraordinary circumstances.

University of Madras, Research Regulations 2021 (amended March 2023)

Madras keeps change of supervisor and grievances in one section. As per clause 10.1, a grievance goes to the Head of the Institution, who refers it to the RAC or a grievance committee and settles it within 30 days. Clause 10.2 allows a change in four situations. One is a recommendation from the RAC or grievance committee. Transfer of the supervisor outside the university’s jurisdiction, or death, are the next two. Last is both supervisors agreeing. The Head approves and then the university ratifies it.

Near the synopsis stage or after it, the university can nominate a research coordinator to manage the change (10.3). Under clause 10.5, the institution which admitted you must find you a new supervisor. Chapter 3, clause 2.11(b) says the same thing as the UGC age-70 rule for retired supervisors.

What is the procedure to change your PhD supervisor?

The forms are not same everywhere. The order of steps, though, is almost the same in most places.

1. 1

   Talk to your supervisor first, if you can

   For retirement, transfer or a new direction, mostly the supervisor starts the paperwork, and with their consent on paper your file moves faster.

2. 2

   Ask the Head or research cell who approves it

   Collect the form and find out who decides in your university, the Head, the Director (Research) or some committee.

3. 3

   Find a new supervisor with a vacancy

   The new person must be recognised and under the 8, 6 or 4 limit. Universities publish the supervisor list every year, so see it before you approach anyone.

4. 4

   Submit the application with consents

   Normally this means your request with reasons, the present supervisor’s consent or no-objection letter, the new supervisor’s acceptance and the Head’s forwarding note. With two institutions, both heads must consent also.

5. 5

   Wait for approval and ratification

   The approving authority decides, and then the university records or ratifies the change. Keep doing your experiments meanwhile, as your duration keeps running.

6. 6

   Update records and meet the committee

   See that university records, your RAC or DC and any fellowship papers show the new supervisor’s name. Then call an early committee meeting and discuss about what changes in your plan.

With all consents in hand and the Head able to approve, it may finish in a few weeks. If a committee must decide, it can go on for one semester. A few universities collect a processing fee for this. I have not come across any common amount, so ask the research cell about it.

When you apply also matters a lot, and a change well before the synopsis gives the least trouble. Near the end, a coordinator or co-supervisor usually costs less time than a full change, more so where a minimum period with the new supervisor applies. Any change in the design, put it on the agenda of your next RAC or DC meeting so that it comes in the minutes.

What happens if your supervisor retires, transfers or dies?

A worked example (illustrative). Arun is in his third year of a full-time PhD in mechanical engineering, working on tool wear in dry machining of a titanium alloy. His supervisor, an Associate Professor, retires in eight months. Arun’s registration is confirmed and he has one paper out. Clause 6(5) allows the supervisor to continue as co-supervisor after she retires. So she writes to the Head proposing a department colleague, a Professor with two vacancies, as supervisor from the retirement date, with herself as co-supervisor. Three consents go with the form, and the change is recorded before she retires.

For Arun, the name on his forms changed. The new supervisor also asked him for one more set of machining trials. His registration date, his title and his paper remained the same.

How do you handle a difficult relationship with your supervisor?

Don’t rush to apply, and follow up every talk with your guide by email so there is a record. Mostly the problem is slow feedback, unclear demands or a chapter asked within days when that was never possible. Many times a frank talk and a written plan agreed in the RAC sort these out. If it is safe for you, try this first.

Harassment, signatures being held back, or threats about your degree are different, and there you file a formal complaint. Your ordinance may have its own process, like clause 10.1 in Madras. Apart from that, the UGC (Redressal of Grievances of Students) Regulations, 2023 make universities set up Students’ Grievance Redressal Committees and an online portal, and an appeal can go to an Ombudsperson. “Harassment or victimization of a student” is included in the list of grievances. The committee is supposed to give its report preferably within 15 working days.

In the complaint, leave out feelings about the guide. The committee wants the dates and the emails, plus what was asked and how you responded.

Protecting your data and drafts

Before applying, keep your own dated copies of raw data, analysis files, lab notebook pages and drafts. But don’t take anything that is not yours. If the data came from a funded project of your supervisor, it may belong to that project. For this reason clause 6(4) keeps such data out. Ask in writing which material you can continue to use. Any paper you wrote along with your old supervisor remains co-authored with them, and if you are unsure how to credit them in the next papers, see our authorship guide.