Record 55,000 clear UGC-NET
Over 55,000 candidates have cleared the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test to qualify as assistant professor and get a Junior Research Fellowship grant. This is the highestever number of candidates to have passed the exam. Last year, the number was around 38,000.
This time, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced these results in a record threeweek time. The exam was conducted on July 8 and the results were announced by the board on Tuesday. So far, the board used to take at least three months to do the same.
Although 11.48 lakh candidates had registered, 8.59 lakh appeared for the exam, around 6.5% of whom finally made the cut. For the first time, it was made into a twopaper exam (one general, meant for all candidates, and a subject paper) from the earlier three-paper one. The exam was conducted for 84 different subjects.
This year, the numbers of candidates registered (11,48,235) and appeared (8,59,498) are also the highest ever for the exam.
As per UGC norms, 6% candidates are allowed to clear the exam, but this time the number increased to around 6.5% due to the bunching of marks.
CBSE officials attributed use of more manpower to the early announcement of the results.
In the third week of July, the board uploaded OMR (optical mark resolution) sheet images and the answers, and invited challenges till July 27. According to CBSE sources, it received three kinds of challenges — some blackened two circles of the same question and requested the board to consider only one circle, others asked for subject change at the time of the examination and some candidates pointed out a few corrections in questions. While the first two challenges were turned down, the board put the third challenge before experts and implemented their advice.
