The University Grant Commission (UGC) in India has decided to form a new curriculum for the National Eligibility Test (NET) examination that is mandatory for individuals aspiring to pursue teaching positions in higher education.

The revision in the syllabus of the NET was decided in a meeting held on 3 November. UGC would form an expert panel to undertake the revision process in the NET exam. M Jagadesh Kumar, UGC chairman, told The Statesman, “Candidates will be given sufficient time before this new syllabus is introduced in UGC-NET so that the changeover takes place smoothly.”

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The National Testing Agency (NTA) on behalf of the UGC conducts the UGCNET for Junior Research Fellow (JRF) and as an eligibility test for appointment as assistant professor in subjects like humanities and social sciences, including Indian and some foreign language, as well as in certain science sub ects, Prof Kumar said. The commission last initiated the process to update the curriculum of UGC-NET subjects in 2017.

The UGC-NET examination is held twice, usually in June and December every year for 83 subjects. “After launching the National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020, there have been considerable developments in higher education to impart multidisciplinary curricula and holistic education. Therefore, in its meeting on 3 November, 2023, the commission decided that an exercise to update the syllabi of the subjects of UGC-NET may be undertaken,” the commission chairman added.