New criteria for selecting university faculty in Jammu & Kashmir draws flak

Aspirants allege the new norms, which now require a local test, diminish the value of educational qualifications

The Jammu & Kashmir Public Service Commission’s new criteria for the appointment of faculty discriminates against those who have higher educational qualifications such as the Ph.D., and flout norms laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC), allege aspirants.

According to the new recruitment rules for the appointment of Assistant Professors in the Higher Education Department notified on September 22, a written examination will now be conducted in addition to an interview that was previously held. The former will carry a weightage of 75 marks, and the latter 15 marks.

But academic qualifications such as graduation, post-graduation, M.Phil., Ph.D., National Eligibility Test for Lecturership (NET) with Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), or State-level Eligibility Test along with research publications and teaching experience, which were the sole criteria for screening candidates before an interview and had a combined weightage of 100 marks, will now carry only 10 marks.

“I have spent four years on my Ph.D. and may take another two years to finish it. But this will only have a value of 2.5 marks as opposed to 25 marks earlier. Our only demand is that Ph.D. and JRF NET be given 50% due weightage in the entire process as per the UGC’s norms,” Ishfaq ul Rehman, 29, said. He is among the aspirants who have petitioned the Lieutenant-Governor of J&K, Manoj Sinha, who is also the Chairperson of the Jammu & Kashmir Higher Education Council.

In their letter, they have said that the new recruitment rules will discourage higher qualifications and post-doctoral experience, and discourage students from joining research programmes or projects sponsored by various national and international organisations, which could also severely impact the research output of universities and their National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings. They ask how a local examination could be superior to national-level tests, and that such an approach disregarded the emphasis in the National Education Policy 2020 on multi-disciplinarity and cutting-edge research.

A source in the J&K administration, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “Introducing a written exam brings more transparency and reduces discretion used in an interview to select candidates.” The official said that UGC norms don’t govern Public Service Commission recruitment, and the earlier recruitment process was also not based on the UGC. He added that while the local government could suggest changes to the norms, it was entirely up to the Public Service Commission to accept them or not.

He also said that the new requirements were in line with Supreme Court rulings on government recruitment. He said NEP applicants with a “more broad-based” background will also have an opportunity, and, “Ph.D. holders will be as important as non-Ph.D. holders”.