Based on UGC Regulations of 2016, these guidelines are applicable to the research programme leading to the award of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) which may be undertaken in any of the Departments of the University, fulfilling the academic, administrative and infrastructure requirements as specified by the UGC.

No research programme for the award of M.Phil degree shall, however, be undertaken through distance education mode

Subject to the general control of the Academic Council, research studies for Ph.D. programme shall be organized by the concerned Board of Studies assisted by:

• Standing Committee
• Departmental Research Committee (DRC)

A candidate for admission to the M.Phil programme must have obtained any of the following academic qualifications in the discipline of research or a subject allied there to (the alliance to be decided by the Academic Council on the recommendations of the respective Board of Studies) at the Master’s degree level (M.Tech /M.E., MBA, MCA, M.A, M.Sc.) from a recognized University:

Master's degree or a professional degree declared equivalent to the Master’s degree by the corresponding statutory regulatory body, with at least 55% marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade 'B' in the UGC 7-point scale (or an equivalent grade/CGPA in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) or an equivalent degree from a foreign educational Institution accredited by an Assessment and Accreditation Agency which is approved, recognized or authorized by an authority, established or incorporated under a law in its home country or any other statutory authority in that country for the purpose of assessing, accrediting or assuring quality and standards of educational institutions.

A relaxation of 5% of marks, from 55% to 50% or an equivalent relaxation of grade/CGPA under 3.1.1 above may be allowed for those belonging to SC/ST/OBC (non-creamy layer)/differently-abled and other categories of candidates without including the grace marks procedures as per the decision of the Commission from time to time.

The candidates, who have passed the qualifying examinations from any foreign University, will have to submit equivalence certificates from the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi.

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) programme shall be for duration of one year, including course work.

The University shall admit M.Phil students through an Entrance Test conducted at the level of the University. The candidates who have qualified UGC-CSIR NET (including JRF)/SLET/GATE shall be exempted from appearing in the Entrance Test.

The University shall notify well in advance in the institutional website and through advertisement in at least two national newspapers, of which at least one shall be in the regional language, the number of seats for admission, subject/discipline-wise distribution of available seats, criteria for admission, procedure for admission, examination centre(s) where entrance test(s) shall be conducted and all other relevant details for information of the candidates seeking admissions.

The admissions shall be made on the basis of the criteria notified by the University keeping in view the guidelines/norms in this regard issued by the UGC and other statutory bodies concerned and taking into account the reservation policy of the Govt. from time to time as applicable in the case of the self financing institutions.

In pursuance of the Admission notice got published by the University, the candidates shall apply for enrollment as Research Scholars for Ph.D programme in the University on the prescribed application form which can be obtained from the website of IEC University. The applications so received shall be submitted to the Department concerned. The University shall admit candidates by a two stages process through:

An Entrance Test shall be qualifying with qualifying marks as 50%. The Entrance Test shall be followed by interview/viva-voce to be organized by the university where the candidates are required to discuss their research interest/ proposal/area.

The interview/viva voce shall also consider the aspects viz. whether the candidate possesses the competence for the proposed research; if the proposed research work can be suitably undertaken at the institution/department; and if the proposed area of research can contribute to new/additional knowledge.

The merit of the candidates exempted from appearing in the Entrance Test shall be determined on the basis of their academic merit followed by interview/viva voce along with other candidates.

The list of all the registered students of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) shall be maintained/ uploaded on its website on year-wise basis. The list shall include the names of the registered candidates, topics of their research, names of their supervisors/co-supervisors, date of enrolment/registration, etc.

The selected candidates will have to deposit the admission dues as prescribed by the University from time to time and will be enrolled as a research scholar with effect from the date he/she deposit the fee.

The credit assigned to the Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) course work shall be a minimum of 08 credits and a maximum of 16 credits.

The course work shall be treated as prerequisite for M.Phil preparation. A minimum of four credits shall be assigned to one or more courses on Research Methodology which could cover areas such as quantitative methods, computer applications, research ethics and review of published research in the relevant field, training, field work, etc. Other courses shall be of advanced level courses preparing the students for M.Phil degree.

All courses prescribed for M.Phil course work shall be in conformity with the credit hour instructional requirement and shall specify content, instructional and assessment methods. They shall be duly approved by the authorized academic bodies i.e. Academic Council on the recommendations of the respective Board of Studies.

All candidates admitted to the M.Phil programmes shall be required to complete the course work prescribed by the Department during the initial one or two semesters.

M.Phil scholars have to obtain a minimum of 50% of marks or its equivalent grade in the UGC 7-point scale (or an equivalent grade/CGPA in a point scale) in the course work in order to become eligible to continue in the programme and submit the thesis.

Any regular Professor of the University/Institute with at least five research publications in refereed journals and any regular Associate/Assistant Professor of the university/institute with a Ph.D. degree and at least two research publications in refereed journals may be recognized as Research Supervisor. Provided that in areas/disciplines where there is no or only a limited number of refereed journals, the University may relax the above condition for recognition of a person as Research Supervisor with reasons to be recorded in writing.

Only a full time regular teacher of the University/Institute can act as a supervisor. The external supervisors are not allowed. However, Co-Supervisor can be allowed in interdisciplinary areas from other department of the same institute or from other related institution with the approval of the Standing Committee.

The allocation of Research Supervisor for a selected research scholar shall be decided by the Department/Institute concerned depending on the number of scholars per Research Supervisor, the available specializations among the Supervisors and research interests of the scholars as indicated by them at the time of interview/viva voce.

In the case of topics which are of inter-disciplinary nature where it is felt that the expertise in the Department/Institute has to be supplemented from outside, the Standing Committee may appoint a Research Supervisor from the Department/Institute itself, who shall be known as the Research Supervisor, and a Co-Supervisor from outside the Department/ Faculty/College/Institution on such terms as may be agreed upon with reasons to be recorded in writing.

A Research Supervisor/Co-supervisor who is a Professor, at any given point of time, cannot guide more than three (3) M.Phil and Eight (8) Ph.D. scholars. An Associate Professor as Research Supervisor can guide up to a maximum of two (2) M.Phil and six (6) Ph.D. scholars and an Assistant Professor as Research Supervisor can guide up to a maximum of one (1) M.Phil and four (4) Ph.D scholars.

Admission Fees, Annual Fee, Evaluation Fee, etc. to be paid by the candidates shall be as prescribed by the University from time to time. In case any candidate does not pay his/her dues in time, his/her registration/enrolment shall be cancelled without any further notice.

No candidate shall join any other course of study or appear in any other examination while pursuing research. The Vice-Chancellor may, however, allow a candidate to appear in an examination or to attend a course in this University which is relevant to his/her research and is of minor nature, including improvement of any previous result.

Upon satisfactory completion of the course work and obtaining the marks/grade as prescribed in clause 6.5 above, as the case may be, the M.Phil scholar shall be required to undertake research work and produce a draft thesis after one year from the date of registration to the M.Phil programme in the University unless the period is extended by the Vice -Chancellor on the recommendations of his/her Supervisor

Prior to the submission of the thesis, the scholar shall make a re-submission in the form of seminar/presentation before the Degree Research Committee (DRC) of the Department concerned which shall also be open to all faculty members and other research scholars. DRC will assess the quality of seminar and grade it outstanding, satisfactory or poor on the basis of art of presentation and understanding of the subject and replies to the queries. In case of the gradation is poor, the candidate can repeat and improve the performance in seminar.

While submitting thesis, an undertaking from the research scholar and a certificate from the Research Supervisor attesting to the originality of the work, with plagiarism report (plagiarism <20%) and that the work has not been submitted for the award of any other degree/diploma of the same University where the work was carried out, or to any other University. M.Phil scholars must publish at least one research paper in refereed Journal and make one paper presentation in conferences/seminars before the submission of the thesis for adjudication, and produce evidence for the same in the form of presentation certificates acceptance and/or reprints at the time of requesting for pre-submission along with evaluation fee, request for appointment of Examiners, No Dues from the University and Completion Certificate duly countersigned by the Supervisor.

The research scholar shall submit five typed hard copies of his/her thesis along with two soft copies of the same in the form of CD in PDF file and Rs. 5,000 as thesis submission fee in the university.

The University shall develop appropriate methods so as to complete the entire process of evaluation of M.Phil thesis within a period of six months from the date of submission of the thesis.

The M.Phil thesis submitted by a research scholar shall be evaluated by his/her Research Supervisor and at least one external examiner, selected by the Vice Chancellor out of a panel of 4 experts of respective discipline.

When the evaluation reports from external examiner have been received, the public viva-voce of the research scholar to defend the thesis shall be conducted only if the evaluation reports of the external examiner on the thesis are satisfactory and include a specific recommendation for conducting the viva-voce examination. If the evaluation report of the external examiner is unsatisfactory and does not recommend viva-voce, the Institution shall send the thesis to another external examiner out of the approved panel of examiners and the viva-voce examination shall be held only if the report of the latest examiner is satisfactory. If the report of the latest examiner is also unsatisfactory, the thesis shall be rejected and the research scholar shall be declared ineligible for the award of the degree.

The evaluator will state categorically whether in his/her opinion:

Thesis should be accepted for the award of M.Phil Degree and is recommended for viva voce examination.

or

It should be rejected. The evaluator shall state reasons for approval or rejection of the thesis.

In case of any doubt or conflict between the reports by the External Examiners, the matter will be referred to the Standing Committee comprising the Vice-Chancellor, the Dean of Research, HOD and other members which will examine the reports for making recommendations to the Vice-Chancellor if the thesis be referred to the third examiner or viva to be got conducted.

The viva-voce examination, based among other things, on the critiques given in the evaluation reports, shall be conducted by the board of examiners consisting of the Head of Department, supervisor of the candidate, and an external examiner.

If the external examiner appointed by the University is unable or unwilling to conduct the viva-voce examination, another name will be picked up by the Vice-Chancellor from the panel to review the thesis.

The scholar will have to present himself/herself for the viva-voce examination when fixed by the University failing which he/she will be declared ineligible for the award of Degree. However, in case the scholar is unable to attend the viva-voce on the fixed date for any unavoidable reason, the Controller of Examinations on a request by the scholar in writing with an additional fee as may be prescribed by the University can allow one time postponement of the date up to a maximum period of three months from the date previously fixed by the University, failing which the candidate will be declared ineligible for the award of Degree

After finalization of the award of M.Phil Degree, one copy of the thesis with soft copy will be sent to the University Library and the other to the Departmental/Institutional Library. The third copy will be kept as record in the office for five years after which it will also be sent to the University Library. The Supervisor in his capacity as Internal Examiner will retain his copy for his reference.

Following the successful completion of the evaluation process and before the announcement of the award of M.Phil degree, the Controller of Examinations shall submit an electronic copy of the thesis in the form of PDF file to the co-coordinator - INFLIBNET Collaboration of the University, who will host/upload the same on the INFLIBNET website of Shodhganga@inflibnet.ac.in so as to make it accessible to other Institutions/Universities.

Prior to the actual award of the Degree, the University shall issue a provisional certificate to the effect that the Degree has been awarded in accordance with the provisions of UGC regulations, 2016.

Award of degrees to candidates registered for the M.Phil programme on or after July 11, 2009 till the date of Notification of these Regulations shall be governed by the provisions of the UGC (Minimum Standards and procedure for Awards of Ph.D Degree) Regulation, 2009.

No thesis shall be published without prior permission of the University. The research scholar may apply to the Principal/Director/Head of the Department/Institute for permission to publish his/her thesis within five years from the date of notification for the award of degree. The Director/Principal/HOD shall satisfy himself/herself that the thesis is in publishable form. He/she will be guided by the reports of the examiners. A certificate will be obtained from the Supervisor to the effect that necessary improvements suggested by him/her and the examiners have been properly carried out.