| Duration spent on PH.D degree without any leave can now be considered as teaching experience for direct recruitment or promotion. As per TOI reports, the announcement was made recently by the University Grants Commission (UGC), directing all the universities to include the Ph. D research period as teaching experience from here on. ''The period of active service spent on pursuing Research Degree i.e. for acquiring Ph.D. degree simultaneously without taking any kind of leave may be counted as teaching experience for the purpose of direct recruitment/promotion to the post of Associate Professor and above,'' the new circular by UGC committee stated.
Welcoming the UGC's decision in this regard, the academic circles opined that it is an effort to primarily facilitate filling up of posts, lying vacant in universities and other higher educational institutions across the country. Most of the universities and other educational institutions demand at least two to three years teaching experience for faculty positions. "We have large number of unemployed meritorious PhD holders. The decision to treat the period spent by them in acquiring a PhD degree as teaching experience will not only open doors of employment to many of such degree holders, but also facilitate institutions fill up their teaching positions lying vacant for years," official sources said.
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