Dear Sir/Madam, UGC in its 482nd meeting of the university grants commission held on 22nd December, 2011 has decided to abolish descriptive type of question and making it has objective type of questions similar to that of paper 1 and 2 (or CSIR-UGC NET format). But what is the rationale behind this? In recent time the result of qualifying NET in LIS is dwindling, just because of increasing the result output, UGC wants to abolish descriptive type questions , then again UGC at the wrong side. Time and again UGC is creating a lot of confusion among student communities. There is no clear thought process in place. Whenever UGC wants its policies to be amended it will make that change and after some time it reverts back which creates lot of anxiety among student communities. This has happened in the case of required qualification for appointment of assistant professors in universities and colleges (NET or Ph.D. or M. Phil). In 2010 UGC in a big way brought out a report on “UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education 2010" to maintain standard. This report created lot of confusion and problem for students as well as to the universities and colleges across India. There were no proper guidelines for Ph.D. and M. Phil holders, about whether they must qualify NET exam for appointment or Ph.D. and M. Phil holders are exempted from NET exams. Another problem for Ph.D students was that, without any rational UGC made a regulation that if the Ph.D. holders should be exempted from qualifying NET they must have done their Ph. D. based on the new regulation- Minimum Standard and Procedure foe award of Ph.D. Degree Regulation 2009. What about those who have done their Ph.Ds and joined for Ph.Ds before 2009. Those who have completed Ph.Ds before 2009 have also followed the regulations formulated and put in place by none other than UGC. If UGC not recognizing/considering these Ph.Ds, then what about the fate of these Ph.D holders. Are these Ph.Ds not done in accordance with the UGC guidelines? In 2009 UGC exempted Ph.D. holders from qualifying NET. In 2010 the same institute without proper reason made NET compulsory for those who have done their Ph.Ds before 2009 for appointment of Assistant Professors in Universities and Colleges (See http://www.ugc.ac.in/policy/englishgazette.pdf). It seems that decision of shifting from descriptive type questions to objective type questions have no basis. Simply they wanted to increase the number of candidate qualifying NET in LIS. Now many of the State conduct SLET/SET exams at the State level, then why UGC need to change the examination pattern? Time and again UGC taking decisions which are not going well with either students or academia. Does UGC alienated from the ground realities of higher education. Its new regulation for considering API (Academic Performance Index) for tenure promotion has also received lot of criticism from academic community. API only consider number of papers published by academic community not consider the quality of the research (see http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2721182.ece). UGC is creating lot of problem for students as well as for academics by introducing new or amending existing regulations very often. It is high time for statutory body like UGC to overcome its ambiguity and protect the interest of all the stake holders or establishment of National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) as recommended by Prof. Yashpal committee on higher education is the only solution? ------------------------- With best wishes Vasantha Raju N. GFGC-Periyapatna Mysore District -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.