New Delhi: The Modi government’s decision to scrap MPhil, a usually-two-year academic research programme that often serves as a bridge between Master’s and PhD in India, will not affect students currently enrolled in the course, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has said.
“Those who are doing MPhil can complete it. New admissions for MPhil may not happen from the next academic year,” UGC Vice-Chairman Bhushan Patwardhan told ThePrint.
MPhil has been discontinued as part of the National Education Policy (NEP), which was unveiled by the Modi government last week and sets the stage for a vast array of reforms in the Indian education sector. However, the exact timeline of the decision’s implementation has not been specified as yet.
Patwardhan was replying to a query on concerns triggered by the decision from active MPhil students.
The decision to do away with the degree has drawn a mixed response among students and teachers.
Opponents of the decision claim that doing away with MPhil will be a blow to research in India, while supporters say it will save aspiring academics a crucial two years in the prime of their life, adding that the degree has been a CV asset of no particular importance to research.
Even before the NEP, MPhil was not a mandatory requirement for students to pursue PhD. It serves as a gateway to teaching jobs in universities, but students can also apply for them if they have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET). For many, MPhil is just a first brush with research that helps them decide if they wish to pursue it further.
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‘Research will be affected’
Suraj Raw, an MPhil student at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, said scrapping the degree will “hit the quality of research being done in universities”.
“In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF, the government’s higher education ranking framework), the amount of research done by an institute, and its quality, is an important factor,” he added. “Discontinuing MPhil will have a negative impact on a university’s ranking.”
Mohammad Javed, who completed his MPhil from Agra University in 2017, said discontinuing the degree “will make the research substandard”.
Heena Singhal, an MPhil student at the University of Hyderabad, echoed the concerns. “The research model will be deeply affected by this,” she said.
Sandeep Kumar, an assistant professor at Amity University, Gwalior, noted that MPhil “has been very important for those going for a PhD”.
“It helps researchers prepare the base. This also provides with the opportunity of teaching,” added Kumar, who completed an MPhil in Mass Communication in 2009 from the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University, Wardha, Maharashtra.
“The degree used to be a bridge between Master’s and Doctorate,” said Neeraj Kumar, who completed his MPhil in sociology in 1991 from the Institute of Social Sciences Agra and currently works with the Bihar government as a contractual development sector consultant.
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‘Not used for innovative research’
Asked about the decision’s potential impact on research, several experts said there was no cause for concern. A UGC official who did not wish to be named said MPhil has been used “more as a qualification to get jobs rather than innovative research”.
Ranbir Singh, the Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Delhi, agreed. “MPhil is a course that is taught in very few universities like JNU. I don’t think any serious research has ever been done on how MPhil is relevant or important, and what purpose it really served.”
JNU Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar said he fully agreed with the move to scrap MPhil.
“Earlier, in JNU, we had an integrated MPhil-PhD programme. Students who wanted to do a PhD had to necessarily register first for MPhil. They used to spend about two or three years in MPhil and spend another five or six years in PhD,” he added. “That is too long during the most productive period of a student’s life.”
In 2017, he said, JNU “de-linked MPhil and PhD”. “Now, in JNU, we admit students directly into the PhD programme after their MA or MSc. Students can complete their course work during the first year and work on their research during the next two or three years.”
Asked about concerns that doing away with MPhil will harm research, Patwardhan of UGC said they will be addressed by the new four-year programme.
The four-year programme will be a combined course that will certify students as Master’s graduates. “The four-year programme may also lead to a degree ‘with research’ if the student completes a rigorous research project in their major area(s) of study,” the NEP adds.
“Because of the four-year research-intensive degree option, it is expected that students will get required orientation for research,” Patwardhan added.
This is an updated version of the report
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Right decision. Delusions will end. Half baked ones are most dangerous, they have been misusing the certificate for personal gains by continuing to half bake whatever comes in their way. Well done India.
The dicition is totally disappointing. Regular M. Phil degree should continue as a replacement for course work for Ph. D and by considering this way M. Phil degree get its due recognition and importance.
If Modi hi has studied MPhil then, he can come to know, wether it’s important or not. This are all politics, what ever the education system is going to change is foolish thing, I don’t support
Grant older M.phil degree holders whose thesis are of good quality, a PHD degree by holding an additional vaiva on their thesis.
Grant older M.phil degree holders whose thesis are of good quality, a PHD degree by holding an additional vaiva on their thesis.
The government is not only abolishing the MPhil programme but also making Masters degree of two years equivalent to studying an extra year in bachelors in college ! (as that will be considered sufficient qualification to do PhD, instead of a master’s course as in the present). This is outrageous and will severely affect the quality of research !
According to it, doing MPhil is a waste of two years in the ‘productive period’ of the life of a person! It shows the kind of attitude that the government has towards academic research, science and knowledge.
Moreover, a question arises that how is PhD which takes more years not considered a ‘waste of time’ by the government if a two year MPhil course is?!
Note that MPhil is anyways not a compulsory course to do PhD, but an optional one for those who want to work on a smaller research project requiring shorter duration. Not all topics are worth doing a PhD study on.
Students must have the right of and get opportunity of doing MPhil.