HYDERABAD: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to award ten ‘PhD Excellence Citations’ every year to recognise the high-quality doctoral work among research scholars,
The citations will be awarded from next academic year, and they are set to recognise ‘outstanding doctoral research’. In alignment with the National Education Policy-2020, the initiative is an effort to identify exemplary research work in Indian universities, media reports quoted UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar as saying.
The excellence citations will be awarded for theses in five disciplines – Sciences including Agricultural Sciences and Medical Sciences; Engineering and Technology; Social Sciences including Education and Humanities; Indian Languages; Commerce and Management.
Research scholars who have obtained PhD degrees through a convocation from January 1 to December 31 in a year will be eligible for the citation the following year. Those who have obtained their PhDs from state, central, private, and deemed to be universities are eligible for the citation.
UGC guidelines
At a meeting held last week, the UGC approved the guidelines for these citations, and the guidelines are set to be made public to elicit feedback.
As per the guidelines, universities may nominate up to five theses in a year, one from each of the five disciplines. The selection process will involve two steps – a screening committee will shortlist the candidates at the university level, and five selection committees constituted by the UGC for each of the five streams to select two awardees from each stream.
Universities need to consider the criteria such as originality of the thesis, methodology, clarity and structure, impact, presentation, defense of the thesis, and contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the discipline.
Nomination process
The UGC will invite nominations from universities through an application portal in January, and the winners are likely to be awarded with their citations on September 5 every year, marking the Teacher’s Day.