UGC NET (National Eligibility Test)

UGC NET 2026 is conducted twice a year — June and December cycles — by NTA on behalf of the University Grants Commission. Qualifying UGC NET is the mandatory gateway to Assistant Professor and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) positions in Indian universities and colleges. JRF award provides ₹31,000/month fellowship for the first 2 years (extendable to ₹35,000) for PhD research at UGC-recognised institutions.

For NE India, UGC NET is the primary qualification for faculty positions at Gauhati University, Dibrugarh University, Assam University Silchar, Cotton University Guwahati, Tezpur University, North-Eastern Hill University Shillong, and state government degree colleges across Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram. State government college recruitment in NE states universally requires UGC NET. The June 2026 exam is upcoming.

• Postgraduate degree (Masters) in the relevant subject with minimum 55% marks (50% for SC/ST/OBC-NCL/PwD/Transgender)
• Final-year PG students can appear provisionally
• No age limit for Assistant Professor eligibility category
• JRF (Junior Research Fellowship): maximum age 30 years as on the first day of the exam month (35 for OBC-NCL, 35 for SC/ST/PwD/female candidates)

Mode

• Computer-Based Test (CBT) — online, single session, 3 hours total
• Two papers taken consecutively with a break

Paper 1 — General (Compulsory for all subjects)

• 50 questions | 100 marks | 1 hour
• Topics: Teaching Aptitude, Research Aptitude, Reading Comprehension, Communication, Reasoning, Logical Analysis, Data Interpretation, ICT, Environment and Higher Education System
• No negative marking

Paper 2 — Subject-Specific

• 100 questions | 200 marks | 2 hours
• 83 subjects available: Economics, Political Science, History, Sociology, Geography, Psychology, Commerce, Management, English, Hindi, Sanskrit, Philosophy, Education, Computer Science and Applications, Environmental Science, and many more
• Choose the subject matching your PG degree specialisation
• No negative marking

Qualifying Criteria

• Two separate cutoffs: JRF (higher, for fellowship) and Eligibility for Assistant Professor (lower)
• Subject-wise and category-wise cutoffs published after results
• Qualified candidates receive a certificate valid for the current cycle

Preparation

• Paper 1 preparation: KVS, NTA UGC NET Paper 1 by Trueman's or Arihant
• Paper 2: Standard textbooks for chosen subject + previous year papers (NTA releases official keys)