UGC NET sees 14% rise in PhD qualifiers, but 6% JRF cap may hinder research growth

Time of India

2 days ago

Experts warn of research quality decline as JRF funding lags behind PhD demand. (AI Image)
Over 1.28 lakh candidates qualified for PhD admissions in
UGC NET 2025
exams, yet only 5,269 secured JRF
Signalling a growing academic interest in doctoral research, over 1.28 lakh candidates qualified for PhD admissions in the recently declared UGC NET June 2025 results. This witnessed a 14% rise from the previous year, however, only 5,269 candidates secured the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), a figure that remains disproportionately low.
Out of 1,88,333 candidates who cleared NET this cycle, only 5,269 qualified for both JRF and Assistant Professor eligibility, 54,885 qualified for Assistant Professorship alone, and the remaining 1,28,179 fell under the newly introduced 'PhD-only' category. This structural change, introduced in 2023 to allow candidates with NET scores to apply for PhD programmes without necessarily being eligible for teaching or research fellowships, has expanded the pathway to doctoral study, but not the financial support required to sustain it.
However, without enough financial support, many deserving students are being left out, which also impacts the long-term research goals under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Speaking to Education Times, Brajesh Kumar Tiwari, associate professor, Atal School of Management, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi, says, "The growing gap between UGC NET-qualified PhD aspirants and JRF awardees may harm India's research future and quality.
While over 1.28 lakh candidates are now eligible for PhD admissions, only 4.1% have secured JRFs. This means several students lack the full-time funding essential for sustained research."
Research in Social Sciences, Humanities, and other core disciplines require intensive focus. He says, "Without funding, many scholars take to teaching or work part-time, diluting their research output. This risks making research more quantity-driven than quality-oriented."
Eligibility Expands
Prof Tiwari says, "The 14% increase in PhD eligibility has been driven by several factors, including the updated UGC regulations in 2023 that permitted candidates to use their NET scores for both PhD admission and Assistant Professor roles. "This dual-benefit model made NET more attractive. Meanwhile, All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) data shows postgraduate enrolment rising from 43.8 lakh in 2020-21 to 45.7 lakh in 2022-23.
A larger postgraduate base leads to higher NET participation. Yet, while eligibility has expanded, financial support has not kept pace. Despite a growing number of PhD students, rising from 1.69 lakh in 2014-15 to over 2.2 lakh in 2022-23, the annual JRF awards have stagnated between 5,000 and 9,000 for the past decade."
Fellowship Limitations
Budgetary limitations, the current JRF award model, are some of the reasons for this stagnation.
"In the 2024-25 Union Budget, the UGC received Rs 4,066 crore, a marginal decrease from Rs 4,093 crore in the previous year. With much of this allocated to salaries and infrastructure, little remains for expanding fellowships. Meanwhile, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), a flagship NEP 2020 initiative meant to boost research funding, is yet to be operationalised.
The delay in ANRF rollout has stalled the research funding setup," says Tiwari.
The current JRF award model limits fellowships to the top 6% of candidates in each subject-category combination. Prof Tiwari says, "This percentage remains constant regardless of how many high-performing candidates there are or how much higher education enrolment has grown. This creates artificial cutoffs, excluding many deserving scholars. Globally, countries such as Germany and the UK adjust fellowship numbers based on actual doctoral demand and research priorities.
India must adopt a more dynamic and responsive system."
Some top institutions, including IITs, IISc, TIFR, IISERs, JNU, Delhi University, and the University of Hyderabad, offer internal fellowships and research or teaching assistantships. However, these are limited in scale and mostly confined to central institutions. "Internal support varies widely across institutions and disciplines. To address the funding gap, the UGC and Ministry of Education must incentivise and fund state universities to launch standardised, well-supported assistantship programmes at scale," says Prof Tiwari.
The imbalance between the qualifiers and the JRF cap raises concerns about the future of India's research ecosystem. Ipsita Sapra, associate professor, School of Public Policy and Governance, TISS Hyderabad, says, "India lags globally in terms of high-quality research output, with fewer publications in reputed, peer-reviewed journals and limited contributions to original theoretical work. One key reason is underfunding of research.
In India, publications are often treated as a means for career advancement rather than for contributing to original research ideas. Moreover, high costs and long duration of research, often taking 5-7 years, discourage scholars, especially when financial support such as JRF is unavailable."
Alternative Funding Mechanisms
Countries such as China have invested in research, while India has not made comparable commitments. Prof Sapra says, "Increasing the number of JRFs is essential as is developing alternative funding mechanisms.
Collaboration between academia and industry, as seen in global universities, should be encouraged. Government funding remains crucial, as institutional fellowships are often far below JRF levels and not sustainable in the long term.
Several Indian universities have had to suspend their internal research support due to lack of funds."
JRF plays an important role in enabling scholars, especially from economically weaker backgrounds, to pursue research without financial insecurity.
"Without such support, many capable students are forced to abandon their academic goals for paying jobs. This results in a research ecosystem dominated by the privileged communities," she says.
Creating a Bottleneck
For Prashant Kumar, a recent UGC NET qualifier in Economics, the gap in financial support has posed hurdles. Prashant, hailing from Bihar, says, "There has been a sharp increase in students appearing for the UGC NET, from around 4.5 lakh in June 2023 to nearly 7.5 lakh in June 2025.
But the number of JRFs has not changed. Without fellowships, full-time research is only possible for the financially secure. The rest are forced to either drop out, go part-time, or struggle under financial stress.
"
Prashant adds that while central research bodies such as ICSSR and DBT offer fellowships, their numbers are extremely limited, and the selection process highly competitive. "A few universities offer internal assistantships, but these are not uniformly available," he says, adding, "This uneven landscape means one's access to research funding often depends on where they study."
Prashant who relied entirely on self-study, YouTube lectures, and past year papers, says, "Even after qualifying NET multiple times, I have not managed to qualify for JRF. I have taken the exam six times since December 2022, and except for my first attempt, I have cleared all others."
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