JNU Teachers Slam 'Messy' Semester Plan, Flag PhD Admission Issues

JNUTA slams JNU's semester plan as "messy," raising concerns over PhD admissions, NET percentile use, and faculty exclusion. It plans protests over administrative overreach and APAR misuse.

The JNUTA has slammed JNU's upcoming semester schedule as "messy and illogical", citing admission irregularities, especially for PhD candidates.

Source : Facebook

New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) The Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) expressed concern on Monday over what it termed a "messy and illogical" academic schedule for the upcoming semester, alleging widespread administrative lapses under the current university leadership.

There was no immediate response from the JNU administration over the allegations.

In a statement, the JNUTA flagged irregularities in admission timelines, especially for PhD aspirants, and criticised the use of NET percentile scores in a way that it claimed distorts the final merit list.

"Combining percentile scores from the NET exam with raw viva-voce marks defies basic statistical logic," it said, adding that the practice renders the written exam marks effectively meaningless.

According to the current schedule, while continuing students start attending classes from July 9, first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students will only complete their admissions by July 29, with a possible final round in mid-August.

PhD admissions, meanwhile, are spread across September, with uncertainty over semester alignment and course durations.

The statement also highlighted the exclusion of the June 2025 NET candidates from the PhD process, despite many having just completed their master's degree.

Further, the JNUTA accused the administration of bypassing faculty opinions on reverting to the university's own entrance exams and misusing the APAR (Annual Performance Assessment Report) mechanism to over-regulate the academic staff.

"The VC's avoidance of a scheduled meeting with the JNUTA, despite an earlier commitment, shows the administration's indifference," the teachers' body said, noting unresolved promotion cases and arbitrary appointment processes during the summer break.

A mass-faculty delegation is now scheduled to approach the vice chancellor's office on July 4 to register its protest and demand immediate redressal.

The JNUTA reaffirmed its commitment to "saving the university from complete destruction" amid what it described as a steadily-deteriorating academic climate. 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)