MADURAI: The All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) has today strongly demanded that incentives for M.Phil and Ph.D must continue without any dilution and urged the University Grants Commission (UGC) to withdraw its notification in this matter at the earliest in the interest of higher education quality.
AIFUCTO president Prof.Dr.M.Nagarajan and general secretary Prof.Dr.Arun Kumar have issued a press release today-February 26th 2025- stating that the UGC Draft regulation 2025 and the policy to discontinue M.Phil and Ph.D incentives are attempts to dilute the standard of higher education in India and also deny the minimum benefits to teachers in the 8th Pay Commission in future.
“The notification and proposals saying that there shall be no longer be any incentive in form of advance increments for obtaining degrees of M.Phil or Ph.D is not acceptable. Most academics and scholars in India complete M.Phil and Ph.D. under dire conditions. The incentives will be an encouragement to younger generation to undertake serious research. AIFUCTO disapproves the UGC notification for withdrawing advance increment for M.Phil and Ph.D and it is extremely disturbed at the way NEP 2020 has laid out proposals on higher education, research, scrapping M.Phil and eligibility to start research right after completing undergraduate courses. Without postgraduate degree, no student acquires the subject expertise in research subject. AIFUCTO has already expressed its resentment on this issue and the present UGC notification is directly related to the policy of Central government to discourage research and an outcome of implementation of NEP 2020,” the press release said.
The prime demand put forth to the UGC is to continue the incentives/advance increments and help teachers progress faster under Career Advancement Scheme (CAS).
