Posers raised over issuance of PhD certificate
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, September 04 2022:
Even though a government college teacher is required to obtain No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the authority concerned and take leave to attend the mandatory course for six months, many college teachers are producing PhD certificates without observing such formalities, thus, raising the question of some universities selling PhD certificates.
As per PhD Regulations 2009 of the University Grants Commission (UGC), college teachers are required to attend mandatory course for six months and obtain 55 per cent mark in the course in order to get final registration for PhD.
In short, no scholar can complete PhD without fulfilling these criteria.
Interestingly, several college teachers of the state are now producing PhD certificates from some universities located in Meghalaya and some other states without obtaining leave for six months to attend the mandatory course.
This has raised the question how these college teachers attended the six-month course without taking leave of their service.
Source said that all the college teachers producing PhD certificate from a certain university of Meghalaya obtained post facto NOC and they also did not take study leave.
Most of these teachers were recently absorbed from being part time teachers and aided college teachers.
As per the existing criteria, a college teacher possessing PhD degree can get promoted from assistant professor stage 1 to stage 2 within four years with the eligibility to get promotion to associate professor.
The duration for non-PhD degree holder is six years and they are not eligible to get promotion to associate professor.
Besides, PhD degree holder gets advance increment in their salary.
A Doctor of Philosophy is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study.
PhDs are awarded for programmes across the whole breadth of academic fields.
Because it is an earned research degree, those studying for a PhD are required to produce original research that expands the boundaries of knowledge, normally in the form of a dissertation, and defend their work before a panel of other experts in the field.
In the light of the recent situation, many are wondering if some college teachers as well as some universities are engaged in the illegal practice of obtaining and selling PhD degree without fulfilling the criteria, which would ultimately lead to downfall of the higher education sector in the state.