Frequently Asked Questions

University Grants Commission (UGC) conducted the UGC-NET till June 2014. The answer keys of the all NET subjects of UGC-NET examinations from June 2012 to June 2014 are available on the UGC website www.ugcnetonline.in.

The conduct of UGC-NET was outsourced to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) from December 2014 to June 2018. Thereafter, it has been outsourced to National Testing Agency (NTA) from December 2018 onwards. For UGC-NET conducted from December 2014 onwards, the answer-keys may be obtained from the concerned body or may be accessed from their websites if uploaded there

University Grants Commission (UGC) conducted the UGC-NET till June 2014. The question papers of UGC-NET from December 2004 to June 2014 are available on the UGC websites www.ugcnetonline.in and www.ugc.ac.in

The conduct of UGC-NET was outsourced to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) from December 2014 to June 2018. Thereafter, it was outsourced to National Testing Agency (NTA) from December 2018 onwards. For UGC-NET conducted from December 2014 onwards, the question papers may be obtained from the concerned body or may be accessed from their website if uploaded there.

The validity of UGC-NET certificate of Eligibility for Assistant Professor/Lectureship is forever.

It is mentioned in the Notification / Information Bulletin of UGC-NET that the candidates with post-graduate diploma/certificate awarded by Indian University/ Institute or foreign degree/diploma/certificate awarded by the foreign university/ institute should in their own interest, ascertain the equivalence of their diploma/degree/certificate with corresponding Master’s degree of recognized Indian universities from Association of Indian Universities(AIU), New Delhi (website:www.aiu.ac.in). In case of Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from a foreign university, the candidates should ascertain the equivalence of their LL.M. degree with corresponding Master’s degree of recognized Indian universities from Bar Council of India, New Delhi.

In case, such candidates still appear in the UGC-NET without ascertaining the said equivalence, they stand to be disqualified even after provisionally qualifying the UGC-NET in the event of required equivalence not having been accorded.

No, as far as universities are concerned, only Master’s degrees are valid for appearing in NET.

Rank is not assigned in UGC-NET.

No, it is clarified that the earlier qualifying criteria for UGC-NET involved qualifying top 15% of those candidates in each subject and category, who obtained the minimum required marks in Paper-I, Paper-II & Paper-III. This was applicable till UGC-NET held on 22.01.2017.

From UGC-NET held from November 2017 onwards, the qualifying criterion was modified as per which 6% of the total candidates who appear in the UGC-NET examination are declared qualified. In effect, the number of qualifying candidates does not decrease

The National Eligibility Test (UGC-NET) for Junior Research Fellowship and Eligibility for Assistant Professor is a national level examination. Hence, only the candidates falling in the non-creamy layer and whose category is included in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) maintained by National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) and as uploaded on their website www.ncbc.nic.in, are eligible for these relaxations / concessions.

UGC has issued JRF Award Letters and NET certificates till December, 2018 UGC-NET. In case of loss of original JRF Award Letter and / or NET Certificate of Eligibility for Lectureship / Assistant Professor, the candidate can apply for a duplicate NET Certificate / JRF Award Letter by producing the following documents:-

1. Application of the candidate stating the details along with his/her date and Roll Number in NET.
2. Self-attested copy of FIR regarding loss of the relevant document(s).
3. A demand draft of Rs. 100/- drawn in favour of ‘Secretary, University Grants Commission’
4. High School / Matriculation Certificate for Date of birth
5. Post Graduation Mark Sheet & Degree
6. Category Certificate (if any)

As all NET Certificates of Eligibility for Assistant Professor are being issued electronically, the candidate should provide his/her E-mail Id with contact / mobile number.

From June 2019 UGC-NET onwards, the JRF Award Letters and NET certificates are being issued by NTA. The candidates may approach NTA for their JRF Award Letters and NET certificates from June, 2019 UGC-NET onwards.

For latest and detailed eligibility conditions please refer to the Information Bulletin / Notification on the website of NTA, as per which the candidates are advised to appear in the subject of their post-graduation only. The candidate whose post-graduation subject is not included in the list of NET subjects, may appear in a related subject. In such a situation, the candidate should go through the syllabi of subjects in which UGC-NET is conducted, uploaded on the UGC website www.ugcnetonline.in and appear in a subject that is closest to the subject of post-graduation of the candidate. However, the suitability of any candidate for a teaching position lies within the jurisdiction of the appointing authority.

It is mentioned in the Information Bulletin / Notification of UGC-NET that:

The candidates with Master’s Degree in Geography (with specialization in Population Studies) or Mathematics/ Statistics are also eligible to appear in the subject “Population Studies”

However, suitability of a candidate for any teaching position is within the purview of the appointing authority as mentioned in reply to FAQ 9.

The date of eligibility for the post of Assistant Professor is the date of declaration of NET result, which in this case is 29th May, 2017 OR the date of completion of Master’s degree or equivalent examination with required percentage of marks within two years from the date of declaration of NET result, i.e. by 28th May, 2019, whichever is later.

No, negative marking is not there in UGC-NET.

NET in various subjects is being conducted in disciplines falling under Humanities including languages, Social Sciences and some Science subjects through UGC-NET. The Joint CSIR-UGC Test is conducted under the auspices of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in disciplines falling under the basic sciences. For Agriculture related subjects, ICAR-NET is conducted by Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (under Indian Council of Agricultural Research). The candidates may go through the respective websites for these three examinations in order to learn about the subjects in which NET is conducted.

National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted under the auspices of the three bodies, viz. UGC, CSIR and ICAR are mutually recognized. Nevertheless, suitability of a candidate for any teaching position lies within the jurisdiction of the appointing authority

For candidates qualified for JRF under the UGC scheme in the Joint CSIR-UGC Test held from December 2016 to June 2019, the JRF Award Letters and NET e-certificates of Eligibility for Assistant Professor have been issued by UGC. The NET e-certificates of candidates qualified only for Lectureship / Assistant Professor have also been issued by UGC. While the JRF Award Letters are issued by UGC through speed post, the NET e-certificates are uploaded on the UGC website www.ugcnetonline.in.

In case your NET e-certificate is not getting downloaded, you can log on to the UGC website www.ugcnetonline.in and click on the relevant link out of the following as per your examination:-

Click here to download e-certificate of UGC-NET for June 2010 and December 2010.

Click here to download e-certificate of UGC-NET from June 2011 onwards

Click here to download e-certificate of Joint CSIR-UGC Test (from December- 2016 onwards)

And then follow the instructions therein sequentially.

The University Grants Commission in its meeting held on 18th February, 2021 has resolved that CA/CS/ICWA qualification be considered equivalent to PG Degree.

The candidates having CA/CS/ICWA qualification have also to fulfill eligibility criteria as stipulated in the Information Bulletin/Notification of UGC-NET.

Regarding degrees acquired through distance mode, the programme and tenure should be approved by the Distance Education Bureau of UGC. The year-wise recognition status of universities / institutions approved to offer education through distance mode along with the approved programmes is available on the UGC website, www.ugc.ac.in/deb

UGC has issued JRF Award Letters and NET certificates till December, 2018 UGC-NET. The candidate should submit an application to Head, NET Bureau, University Grants Commission, University of Delhi South Camus, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi - 110 021, with complete details of UGC-NET along with self-attested copies of the following documents / certificates:

1. Covering letter stating the nature of request along with his/her date and Roll Number in NET.
2. High School / Matriculation Certificate for Date of birth
3. Post Graduation Mark Sheet & Degree
4. Category Certificate (if any)
5. Aadhaar Card/PAN Card/Passport/Voter ID Card

From June 2019 UGC-NET onwards, the JRF Award Letters and NET certificates are being issued by NTA. The candidates may approach NTA for correction in their JRF Award Letters and NET certificates from June, 2019 UGC-NET onwards.

UGC has issued JRF Award Letters and NET certificates till December, 2018 UGC-NET. The candidate should submit an application to Head, NET Bureau, University Grants Commission, University of Delhi South Camus, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi - 110 021, with complete details of UGC-NET along with self-attested copies of the following documents / certificates:

1. Covering letter stating the nature of request along with his/her date and Roll Number in NET.
2. Self-attested copy of FIR regarding loss of the relevant document(s)
3. A demand draft of Rs. 100/- drawn in favour of ‘Secretary, University Grants Commission’.
4. High School / Matriculation Certificate for Date of birth
5. Post Graduation Mark Sheet & Degree
6. Category Certificate (if any)

NET Certificates are being issued through electronic mode since June, 2010 UGC-NET. Hence, duplicate NET Certificates are not required to be issued for UGC-NET held in June, 2010 and thereafter

The syllabi of UGC-NET subjects are available on the UGC websites www.ugc.ac.in and www.ugcnetonline.in.

NET was introduced by UGC and CSIR in the year 1989

UGC has issued JRF Award Letters and NET certificates till December, 2018 UGC-NET. Genuineness of NET certificates of Eligibility for Assistant Professor issued to the candidates can only be got verified from UGC by the appointing authorities, i.e. the universities / colleges / institutions / State Public Service Commissions / Public Sector Undertakings / Central Government Bodies etc. UGC does not entertain such requests from the candidates or other individuals.

From June 2019 UGC-NET onwards, the JRF Award Letters and NET certificates are being issued by NTA. The appointing authorities may approach NTA for verification of JRF Award Letters and NET certificates from June, 2019 UGC-NET onwards.

The candidates who have cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET), earlier known as State Level Eligibility Test (SLET), accredited by UGC for eligibility for Assistant Professor held prior to 1st June, 2002, are exempted from appearing in NET, being eligible to apply for the post of Assistant Professor anywhere in India. For SET held from 1st June 2002 onwards, the qualified candidates are eligible to apply for the post of Assistant Professor only in the universities/ colleges situated in the state from where they have cleared their SET.

There is no cap on the number of attempts for appearing in NET for Eligibility for Assistant Professor. However, as far as Junior Research Fellowship is concerned, there is an upper age limit for applying as specified in the concerned Information Bulletin / Notification of NET

General/Unreserved/General-EWS candidates who have secured at least 55% marks (without rounding off) in Master’s Degree or equivalent examination from universities/institutions recognized by UGC (available on the website: www.ugc.ac.in in Humanities and Social Science (including languages), Computer Science and Applications, Electronic Science etc. are eligible for this Test. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) belonging to Non-Creamy Layer/Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST)/Persons with Disability (PwD)/Third gender / category candidates who have secured at least 50% marks (without rounding off) in Master’s degree or equivalent examination are eligible for this Test.

Those who are pursuing their Master’s degree or equivalent course or candidates who have appeared for their qualifying Master’s degree (final year) examination and whose result is still awaited or candidates whose qualifying examinations have been delayed may also apply for this test. However, such candidates will be admitted provisionally and shall be considered eligible for award of JRF/eligibility for Assistant Professor only after they have passed their Master’s Degree OR equivalent examination with at least 55% Marks [50% marks in case of OBC(Non Creamy layer)/SC/ST/PWD/Transgender candidates]. Such candidates must complete their Master’s degree or equivalent examination within two years from the date of NET result with required percentage of marks, failing which they shall be treated as disqualified.

1. Junior Research Fellowship:

The candidates are advised to visit the Information Bulletin / Notification of concerned UGC-NET for getting exact information in this respect.

2. Eligibility for Assistant Professor:

There is no upper age limit to apply in the UGC-NET for Eligibility for Assistant Professor.

Yes, the result of UGC-NET is prepared on the basis of reservation policy of Government of India.