Based on UGC Regulations of 2016, these guidelines are applicable to the research programme leading to the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) 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 Ph.D. 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)
• Research Degree Committee (RDC)

candidate for admission to the Ph.D 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., etc. other than M.Phil) 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.

Candidates who have cleared the M.Phil course work 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) and successfully completing the M.Phil. Degree shall be eligible to proceed to do research work leading to the Ph. D. Degree in the same Institution in an integrated programme.

A relaxation of 5% of marks, from 55% to 50% or an equivalent relaxation of grade/CGPA under 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 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.

A person whose M.Phil. dissertation has been evaluated and the viva voce is pending may be admitted to the Ph.D. programme of the same Institution provisionally subject to declaration of the result of his Viva Voce examination declaring him as successful in the M.Phil Programme.

Candidates possessing a Degree considered equivalent to M.Phil. Degree of an Indian Institution, 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, shall be eligible for admission to Ph.D. programme.

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.

Ph.D. programme shall be for a minimum duration of three years, including course work and a maximum of six years.

The women candidates and Persons with Disability (more than 40% disability) may be allowed a relaxation of two years for Ph.D. in the maximum duration. In addition, the women candidates may be provided Maternity Leave/Child Care Leave once in the entire duration of Ph.D. for up to 240 days.

The University shall admit Ph.D. students through an Entrance Test conducted at the level of the University. The candidates who have already qualified M.Phil comprising course work after seeking admission through Entrance Test or have qualified UGC-CSIR NET (including JRF)/SLET/GATE or those who have been awarded Teacher Fellowship by the UGC or any other Regulating Councils for carrying on research leading to the Ph.D. Programme 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 PhD 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 candidates who have been sanctioned Teacher Fellowship by the UGC or any other Regulating Body shall be admitted on the basis of interview/viva-voce subject to availability of seat in the Department.

The list of all the registered students of Ph.D. 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 recommendations with regard to the suitability of the research scholars made by the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) approved by the Vice-Chancellor shall be final.

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 Ph.D. course work shall be a minimum of 08 credits and a maximum of 16 credits.

The course work shall be treated as prerequisite for Ph.D. 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 Ph.D. degree.

All courses prescribed for Ph.D. 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 Ph.D. programmes shall be required to complete the course work prescribed by the Department during the initial one or two semesters.

Candidates already holding M. Phil. degree and admitted to the Ph.D. programme, or those who have already completed the course work in M.Phil and have been permitted to proceed to the Ph.D. in integrated course, may be exempted from the Ph.D. course work. All other candidates admitted to the Ph.D. programme shall be required to complete the Ph.D. course work prescribed by the University.

Ph.D. scholar has 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 inter- disciplinary 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.

In case of relocation of a Ph.D. woman scholar due to marriage or otherwise, the research data shall be allowed to be transferred to the University to which the scholar intends to relocate provided all the other conditions in these regulations are followed in letter and spirit and the research work does not pertain to the project secured by the parent institution/supervisor from any funding agency. The scholar will, however, give due credit to the parent guide and the institution for the part of research already done. If the Supervisor of a candidate leaves the University before the completion of the research work and/or is otherwise unable to see the work through, due to some valid reason(s), the Vice-Chancellor may allow the change of the Supervisor, on the recommendation of the Standing Committee.

After deposit of the dues, within a year of registering for Ph.D. the candidate shall present the synopsis of the proposed research at an open seminar in the department, incorporate the suggestions and then submit it to the Research Degree Committee. The RDC may either accept the synopsis or recommend further changes before re-submission. Provided, those candidates who were required to undergo course work will present his/her synopsis after the satisfactory completion of the course work within a period of one year , excluding six month of course work period (i.e. 1st sem.). Provided further, that those candidates who are exempted from undergoing the course work will present the synopsis of the proposed research work within a period of one year from the date of registration for Ph.D.

After approval of the topic and synopsis of the Research Scholar with name of the Supervisor/Co-Supervisor by the Research Degree Committee (RDC), the Chairman of the Research Degree Committee (RDC), will host/upload the Synopsis on the topic approved on the INFLIBNET website of ‘Shodhgangotri (shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in)’ within one month of the approval by the Research Degree Committee (RDC), with a soft copy of the same in the form of PDF File to the University co-ordinator for INFLIBNET Collaboration.

The research topic of a candidate can be allowed to be modified within one year from the date of approval of the topic with fee and the synopsis by the Research Degree Committee (RDC). However, the date of registration shall remain the same. In case the research topic of the Ph.D. Programme of any candidate is modified at any subsequent stage, the synopsis on the modified topic will also have to be got uploaded on the website of the INFLIBNET by the Chairman, Research Degree Committee (RDC) within one month of the approval of the same by the Research Degree Committee (RDC).

The Ph.D. scholar shall submit a six monthly progress report (through the Supervisor and HOD/Principal/Dean) to the Departmental Research Committee (DRC). The approval of the report by the DRC will be required for continued registration of the candidate to the Ph.D. programme. The six monthly progress reports duly approved by Degree Research Committee (DRC) shall be submitted to the concerned department and copy of the same should be retained by the Research scholar.

In case the progress of the research scholar is unsatisfactory, the Degree Research Committee (DRC) shall record the reasons for the same and suggest corrective measures. If the research scholar fails to implement these corrective measures, the Research Advisory Committee may recommend to the University for Cancellation of the registration of the research scholar with specific reasons.

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 6.6 above, as the case may be, the Ph.D scholar shall be required to undertake research work and produce a draft thesis within six years but not before three years from the date of registration to the Ph.D 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 pre-submission in the form of presentation before the Degree Research Committee (DRC) of the Department concerned which shall also be open to all faculty members and other research scholars. The feedback and comments obtained from them may be suitably incorporated into the draft thesis in consultation with the Degree Research Committee (DRC) under the guidance of his/her supervisor.

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 10% ) 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. Ph.D. scholars must publish at least two research paper in refereed Journal and make two paper presentations 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.

If a candidate fails to submit his/her thesis within a period of six years and does not apply for extension before the expiry of his/her period, his/her registration will stand automatically cancelled without any further notice by the University. The period of six years for submission of Ph.D. thesis may be extended in exceptional cases with extension fee Rs 10,000 by a maximum of two years subject to provision under Clause 4.2 above on yearly basis by the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of 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. 20,000 as thesis submission fee in the university.

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

The Ph.D. thesis submitted by a research scholar shall be evaluated by his/her Research Supervisor and at least two external examiners of whom one examiner may be from outside the country, selected by the Vice Chancellor out of a panel of 6 experts of respective discipline.

When the evaluation reports from both the external examiners have been received, the public viva-voce of the research scholar to defend the thesis shall be conducted only if the evaluation reports of both the external examiners on the thesis are satisfactory and include a specific recommendation for conducting the viva-voce examination. If one of the evaluation reports of the external examiners 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:

(i) Thesis should be accepted for the award of Ph.D. Degree and is recommended for viva voce examination.

or

(ii) 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 Research Supervisor and at least one of the two external examiners preferably the one from within the country, and shall be open to be attended by the members of the Degree Research Committee (DRC), all faculty members of the Department/Institute, other interested experts/researchers and research scholars.

If the 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 conduct the Viva.

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.

When received, the reports of all the examiners for the evaluation of the thesis and viva- voce, shall be placed before the Research Degree Committee. It shall be the function of the Committee to consider the reports and to recommend to the Vice-Chancellor whether:-

• The degree be awarded.
• The thesis be rejected.

After the approval of the recommendations of the Research Degree Committee, the Controller of Examinations will notify the result accordingly.

After finalization of the award of Ph.D. 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 Ph.D. degree, the Controller of Examinations shall submit an electronic copy of the thesis in the form of PDF file to the Co-ordinator - 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 Ph.D 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.

The IEC University also offers Research Fellowship of Rs.12,000/- P.M. to the scholars enrolled for Ph.D. in various disciplines. The Fellowships will be awarded taking into consideration the overall merit and research aptitude of the scholars with the following conditions:

• Initially the Fellowship will be awarded for one year w.e.f. the date of completion of the course work extendable for a maximum period of next two years on year to year basis or till the date of submission of the Thesis whichever is earlier.
• Each Scholar of Ph.D., who is awarded Fellowship, will have to work on whole time basis and will attend the Department regularly to carry on his/her Research work under the guidance of his/her supervisor and will have to mark his/her attendance in the department.
• The Scholar will have to undertake academic load of 10-12 hours a week to be assigned by the HOD/Institution.
• The Scholar will regularly submit his/her six monthly Progress Report to be monitored by the Departmental Research Committee (DRC) as further continuance of Fellowship will depend on satisfactorily Progress Report of the research work done by him/her.
• After completion of the Ph.D., this Deemed to be University will have first right to utilize the services of the scholar on a teaching/academic assignment for a period of at least three years with salary as prescribed by the University, failing.