Shell out money and obtain a Ph.D degree - Patna - City - NEWS - The Times of India

PATNA: Getting a Ph.D degree had never been so easy. You need not qualify the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC and CSIR or the
pre-Ph.D registration test conducted by different universities for doing Ph.D in a subject. You need not make even a pre-Ph.D presentation as required by some universities to get yourself registered. You have to simply cough up an amount ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh for getting a Ph.D degree.

This easy way of getting a Ph.D degree, which is supposed to be a passport for lectureship, is attracting a large number of unemployed postgraduates. And, this is, but natural that the walls of Patna streets, especially those located in and around the Patna University (PU) campus, are replete with posters proclaiming a Ph.D degree without pre-registration test. A lesser known institution, styled as Bidya Evening College and located in Kachchi Talab area near Gardanibagh in west Patna, is the facilitator. The college admits a candidate on payment of Rs 16,500 only after which the process of Ph.D registration starts.

The college authorities claim that candidates are registered as part-time candidates under distance education mode with Dravidian University in Andhra Pradesh. A candidate can do Ph.D in any subject, right from history to computer science, biotechnology or management. Depending upon the selection of the subject, the amount of fee (to be deposited in instalments) varies. While a candidate doing Ph.D in history is required to deposit a sum of Rs 90,400, one doing Ph.D in environmental studies will have to deposit Rs 1,50,400 for a period of three years.

Candidates are required to select their own supervisor for guiding them in research activities. And, a supervisor need not be a working teacher of any college or university. Anybody who is a Ph.D degree holder and has three years of teaching experience (even if he is unemployed at present) can become a supervisor. Retired teachers are most welcome as supervisors. Candidates registered for Ph.D are, however, required to pass a written examination conducted by Dravidian University after one year of their registration, they added.

It may be mentioned here that cracking the UGC NET examination is not an easy job for many candidates. As the syllabi of pre-Ph.D registration test are the same as those of NET examination, very few candidates are able to qualify. And, almost all the universities in the state have, of late, introduced pre-Ph.D registration test for allowing a candidate to do Ph.D. PU has further made it tougher by prescribing at least five hours daily stay on the campus for research scholars.

Under these circumstances, candidates would certainly opt for off-campus part-time Ph.D programme, compromising with the quality of research work.

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