Ph.d

About Ph.d

PhD is a doctoral degree with an academic focus. A PhD course is usually of three years duration and candidates need to complete the course within a maximum time span of five to six years. However, the course duration may vary from one institute to the other. Aspirants need to possess a master’s degree to be eligible to pursue a PhD programme.
Candidates can pursue a PhD programme in any stream. In a PhD course aspirants need to select a topic or a subject and do in-depth research on it and answer any queries related to the topic/ subject.
Earlier, candidates could pursue PhD course through the distance mode, however, as per a circular issued by UGC in 2017 it has been informed that a PhD course pursued through the distance education mode would no longer be recognised.
Candidates who have cleared entrance exams like UGC NET, GATE, JEST and the likes are usually offered fellowships while pursuing a PhD course. Apart from this, universities such as IGNOU and Delhi University (DU) also offer fellowships to students pursuing full time PhD courses with them.

PhD Eligibility Criteria

Aspirants are eligible to pursue a PhD course only if they have completed their master’s degree in a similar course/ field/ stream in which they want to pursue a PhD. Some colleges also specify that candidates need to have completed an MPhil to pursue a PhD course offered by them.
Apart from this, many colleges state that candidates meet the eligibility criteria for PhD programmes offered by them if they have cleared UGC NET. Candidates who want to pursue a PhD in Engineering need to possess a valid GATE score.