Jawaharlal Nehru University's Academic Council has adopted various norms of University Grants Commission (UGC) regarding admission procedures to M.Phil & Ph. D courses as well as other postgraduate programmes on December 26, 2016.
However, the move taken by the varsity received severe objection from the faculty members. Earlier, the faculty members protested against the authorities of the varsity for convening a meeting in the middle of the winter vacation. They shouted slogans and even called the students to protest near the venue where the meeting was taking place. However, the authorities warned the faculty and students not to indulge in such acts in the future.
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The students' union of JNU claimed that the guidelines adopted by the varsity are like a straitjacket which directs all the varsities to hold qualifying examination for Ph .D & M. Phil in two levels where VIVA will become the sole criterion while preparing the merit list. The union indicated that due to the protest made by the students, the varsity had acknowledged the discrimination in the admission procedures. Holding meetings with various departments made them choose whether the varsity wants to cut the weightiage to the VIVA or not.
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The meeting was also conducted to decide the hike in admission fees from 2017-18 academic session. It has also been decided to pre-pone the test by five months to December from the academic session 2018-19. The varsity has confirmed the adoption of UGC norms after the meeting.