The chancellor's secretariat in Patna on Tuesday issued a directive to all universities in Bihar to discontinue the pre-PhD Admission Test (PAT) and mandatorily adopt UGC-NET scores as the basis for admission to PhD programmes. The order, signed by principal secretary Dipak Kumar Singh, requires that no university in the state will advertise or conduct PAT for the academic sessions 2024 and 2025. This move aligns PhD admissions with the latest University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
Key Directives for Universities
According to the directive, universities that have already completed admissions to PhD programmes through PAT for the 2024-25 session may continue to run those programmes without affecting the admitted batches. However, those that have issued advertisements for PAT but have not yet conducted the examination or are in the process of initiating it must immediately withdraw such advertisements, revoke the ongoing process, and refund application fees collected from candidates, if any.
Universities have been instructed to use UGC-NET scores as the eligibility and selection criterion for PhD admissions in place of PAT. The chancellor's secretariat has emphasised strict compliance with the notification and has asked all universities to submit a compliance report at the earliest.
Reactions from Universities
Patliputra University registrar Abu Bakar Rizwi confirmed that the university had already completed admissions through PAT and had also begun course work. However, he stated that the university would not hold any PAT henceforth in strict compliance with the chancellor's directive in light of the UGC letter.
This decision is expected to streamline the PhD admission process across Bihar's universities, ensuring a standardised and transparent mechanism based on national-level test scores.
