Discontinuing MPhil may improve research quality
c-Sheetal.Banchariya@timesgroup.com
03.08.2020
As per the recently approved National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, students will no longer be able to enrol in Master of Philosophy (MPhil) programmes. The minimum eligibility for a PhD will now either be a four-year undergraduate (UG) programme with research, or a master’s degree after a three-year UG degree. Academicians call it a welcome move as MPhil was not “effective” in training students for research.
Besides, the numbers of students opting for MPhil programmes were anyway declining. Around 43,267 students enrolled in MPhil programmes in 2016-17, which dipped to 34,109 in 2017-18 and 30,692 in 2018-19. RK Kohli, vice chancellor of Central University of Punjab (CUP), says that MPhil was a waste of time for students and faculty. “There are no fellowships available for MPhil students and it is extremely difficult to conduct substantial research in around two years of course duration. Discontinuing MPhil may help in improving the quality of research as only serious researchers will commit 4-5 years to a PhD degree.” Many universities that did not see merit in MPhil had already discontinued the programme even before the new policy was announced. The CUP had de-listed MPhil in 2015 while the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) had delinked MPhil course two years ago.
“MPhil is just a preparatory course, which does not provide much skilling in research. Research is a continuous process and cannot be completed within two years. Besides, the young researchers are more interested in joining integrated MPhil-PhD degrees, which is why stand-alone MPhil courses have lost their relevance with time,” says Venugopal KR, vice chancellor, Bangalore University.
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