Is a PhD mandatory for assistant professor jobs?

What is the minimum qualification for assistant professor under UGC rules now?

The rule is in the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018. The 2nd Amendment Regulations, 2023 (notification dated 30 June 2023, published in the Gazette on 4 July 2023, in force from 1 July 2023) replaced clause 3.10 with one sentence: NET/SET/SLET is the minimum criterion for direct recruitment as assistant professor in all higher education institutions.

So the basic package is a master’s degree with at least 55% marks (clause 3.4, with a 5% relaxation for SC, ST, OBC non-creamy layer and differently-abled candidates) and NET or an accredited SET/SLET. Clause 4.1 lists the alternatives:

Two limits are easy to miss. A SET or SLET makes you eligible only for posts in that state’s universities and colleges (clause 3.3(I)). And clause 1.1 says that where a statutory body sets norms for its own field, such as technical education, medicine, agriculture or teacher education, those norms prevail. If you are applying to an engineering college, for example, read the regulator’s norms and the advertisement as well as the UGC text.

These are minimums. A university can ask for more in an advertisement, and many selection committees prefer PhD holders even when the post doesn’t require one.

When did the PhD stop being mandatory for assistant professor posts?

The short version: the 2018 regulations planned to make the PhD compulsory for university posts, the date was then amended, and in 2023 UGC replaced the clause entirely with the NET/SET/SLET minimum.

Notice the scope of the original clause. The 2018 text made the PhD mandatory for direct recruitment “in Universities” only. College posts were never under that clause.

We could not open the 2021 first amendment on ugc.gov.in, so we don’t state what it said beyond what the 2023 notification records: its version of clause 3.10 “stands deleted”. Our log of PhD rule changes keeps these dates with their sources.

What happened to the UGC draft regulations of January 2025?

On 6 January 2025 the Union Education Minister released the draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025, and placed them in the public domain for feedback. The Press Information Bureau’s release said the minister expected UGC to publish the final form “soon”.

According to that release, the draft would let candidates teach the subject in which they cleared NET or SET even if it differs from their earlier degrees, give priority to PhD specialisation, and move away from score-based shortlisting towards a broader assessment. Those are proposals. None of them changes the rules for a recruitment until a final regulation is notified.

Until a final regulation appears, the operative text is the 2018 regulations with their 2023 and 2024 amendments. The advertisement for a post usually states which rules the recruitment follows, and that is the document to quote if eligibility is disputed.

Do PhD holders still need NET for assistant professor posts?

Usually not. The first proviso to clause 3.3(I) of the 2018 regulations, repeated in clause 4.1, exempts candidates who have been awarded a PhD “in accordance with” the UGC PhD regulations of 2009 or 2016 from the NET/SET/SLET requirement for assistant professor and equivalent posts in any university, college or institution.

Older PhDs are treated differently. If you registered for your PhD before 11 July 2009, the exemption applies only if all five conditions below are met, and the Registrar or the Dean (Academic Affairs) of your university must certify them:

• the PhD was awarded in regular mode;
• the thesis was evaluated by at least two external examiners;
• an open viva voce was held;
• the candidate published two research papers from the PhD work, at least one in a refereed journal; and
• the candidate presented at least two papers from the PhD work at conferences or seminars sponsored, funded or supported by UGC, ICSSR, CSIR or a similar agency.

What about a PhD under the 2022 regulations?

The 2018 text was written before the UGC PhD Regulations, 2022 existed, so it names only the 2009 and 2016 regulations. We did not find a notification on ugc.gov.in that adds the 2022 regulations to this proviso. Clause 16 of the 2022 regulations does say that scholars registered from 11 July 2009 until the 2022 notification are governed by the 2009 or 2016 regulations, as the case may be, so many current PhD holders fall under the named regulations anyway. If you registered after November 2022 and are relying on the exemption, ask the recruiting university in writing how it treats your degree.

Part-time PhDs are not treated separately in either set of regulations; see our part-time PhD guide for how that mode works.

Where does a PhD still count in a teaching career?

Getting shortlisted

Appendix II of the 2018 regulations gives an academic score used to shortlist candidates for interview. The PhD is the largest single item:

M.Phil. and PhD together are capped at 30 (universities) or 25 (colleges), and NET, JRF and SET together at 7 or 10. The note under clause 4.1 is important: the score is used only to decide who is called for interview, and selection “shall be based only on the performance in the interview”. A PhD gets you through the door more often. It doesn’t decide the result.

Moving up

• Senior scale sooner. Under the Career Advancement Scheme, an assistant professor can move from Academic Level 10 to Level 11 after four years of service with a PhD, against five years with an M.Phil. or a professional master’s degree and six years without either.
• Selection grade in universities. Clause 3.9 makes a PhD mandatory for promotion to assistant professor (Selection Grade, Academic Level 12) in universities.
• Associate professor and professor. Clauses 3.7 and 3.8 make a PhD mandatory for appointment and promotion to both posts.

API scores and the research score

The Academic Performance Indicator (API) system belongs to the UGC’s 2010 regulations. The 2018 regulations replaced it with an annual performance grade and a research score (Appendix II, Table 2), and let teachers who qualified under the old rules choose to be promoted under 2010 or 2018 criteria. The 3rd and 4th amendments extended that choice; the 2024 version covers those who qualified by 31 December 2024. So API matters now mainly for that transitional group.

In the research score, each paper in a peer-reviewed or UGC-listed journal earns 8 points in the sciences and engineering or 10 in languages, humanities, social sciences and allied fields, and each PhD you supervise to award earns 10. Your own PhD isn’t scored there, but it is what makes you eligible to supervise at all: the UGC PhD Regulations, 2022 require a PhD of every research supervisor (clause 6(1)).

Publications made during the PhD therefore keep paying back. For what your university expects before thesis submission, see our publication requirement guide.

Should you clear NET first or finish the PhD?

If your aim is an assistant professor post soon, clear NET (or your state’s SET if you want to work in that state). It is the one qualification that makes you eligible for UGC-governed posts anywhere in India under the current rule, and since March 2024 a NET result can also be used for PhD admission, as our PhD admission guide explains.

If you are already registered for a PhD, finish it. It will earn you more shortlisting points than NET, it spares you the NET requirement where the exemption applies, and without it you will stall at Level 11 in a university. If you are doing both, sit NET during or soon after coursework, while research methodology is fresh. The order matters less than not letting either one drift.