This story is from September 13, 2019

Which exam should you appear for? UGC NET, CSIR NET or both

Those aspiring to become a lecturer or researcher in India need to apply for the University Grant Commission's National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) or Council of Scientific & Industrial Research National Eligibility Test (CSIR NET) or Indian Council of Agricultural Research National Eligibility Test (ICAR NET).
Which exam should you appear for? UGC NET, CSIR NET or both
Those aspiring to become a lecturer or researcher in India need to apply for the University Grant Commission's National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) or Council of Scientific & Industrial Research National Eligibility Test (CSIR NET) or Indian Council of Agricultural Research National Eligibility Test (ICAR NET).
All these examinations are conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The online registration for UGC NET and CISR NET examinations are already open and candidates can visit the official website of the NTA to check and apply for the examinations.
The CSIR NET examination is conducted only for the Science stream students, the ICAR NET is held for the students belonging to the Agriculture Field. For all other subjects/streams, the candidates need to appear for UGC NET examination. UGC NET exam is conducted for 81 subjects.
Candidates often confuse on whether to appear in CSIR NET, UGC NET or both. The first step to solve this riddle is to check the eligibility criteria for both the exams. The UGC NET eligibility criteria is available on - ugcnet.nta.nic.in - while candidates can check CSIR NET eligibility on - csirnet.nta.nic.in.
CSIR NET Eligibility
  • Candidate should have M.Sc. or equivalent degree/ Integrated BS-MS/BS-4 years/BE/B. Tech/B. Pharma/MBBS with at least 55% marks for General (UR)/General-EWS and OBC candidates and 50% for SC/ST, Persons with Disability (PwD) candidates.
  • Maximum age limit is 28 years for the JRF while there is no upper age limit for Lectureship (LS)/ Assistant Professorship (age relaxation is applicable for reserved category as per govt norms)

UGC NET Eligibility
  • Should have completed the post-graduation with minimum 55% (For General Category) or 50% (For Reserved Category) from the recognized university
  • Maximum age limit is 30 years for the JRF while there is no age limit for the lectureship (age relaxation is applicable for reserved category as per govt norms)

CSIR NET Test Subjects
  • Chemical Sciences
  • Earth, Atmospheric, Ocean and Planetary Sciences
  • Life Sciences
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Physical Sciences

UGC NET Test Subjects
  • Adult Education/ Continuing Education/ Andragogy/ Non Formal Education
  • Anthropology
  • Arab Culture and Islamic Studies
  • Arabic
  • Archaeology
  • Assamese
  • Bengali
  • Bodo
  • Buddhist, Jaina, Gandhian and Peace Studies
  • Chinese
  • Commerce
  • Comparative Literature
  • Comparative Study of Religions
  • Computer Science and Applications
  • Criminology
  • Defence and Strategic Studies
  • Dogri
  • Economics / Rural Economics /Co-operation / Demography / Development Planning/ Development Studies / Econometrics/ Applied Economics/Development Economics/Business Economics
  • Education
  • Electronic Science
  • English
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Folk Literature
  • Forensic Science
  • French (French Version)
  • Geography
  • German
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • History
  • Home Science
  • Human Rights and Duties
  • Indian Culture
  • Japanese
  • Kannada
  • Kashmiri
  • Konkani
  • Labour Welfare/Personnel Management/Industrial Relations/ Labour and Social Welfare/Human Resource Management 55
  • Law
  • Library and Information Science
  • Linguistics
  • Maithili
  • Malayalam
  • Management (including Business Admn. Mgt./Marketing/ Marketing Mgt./Industrial Relations and Personnel Mgt./ Personnel Mgt./Financial Mgt./Cooperative Management)
  • Manipuri
  • Marathi
  • Mass Communication and Journalism
  • Museology & Conservation
  • Music
  • Nepali
  • Oriya
  • Pali
  • Performing Art - Dance/Drama/Theatre
  • Persian
  • Philosophy
  • Physical Education
  • Political Science
  • Politics including International Relations/International Studies including Defence/Strategic Studies, West Asian Studies, South East Asian Studies, African Studies, South Asian Studies, Soviet Studies, American Studies
  • Population Studies
  • Prakrit
  • Psychology
  • Public Administration
  • Punjabi
  • Rajasthani
  • Russian
  • Sanskrit
  • Sanskrit traditional subjects (including Jyotisha/Sidhanta Jyotish/ Navya Vyakarna/Vyakarna/ Mimansa/ Navya Nyaya/ Sankhya Yoga/ Tulanatmaka Darsan/ Shukla Yajurveda/ Madhav Vedant/ Dharmasasta/ Sahitya/ Puranotihasa /Agama).
  • Santali
  • Sindhi
  • Social Medicine & Community Health
  • Social Work
  • Sociology
  • Spanish
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Tourism Administration and Management
  • Tribal and Regional Language/Literature
  • Urdu
  • Visual Art (including Drawing & Painting/Sculpture Graphics/Applied Art/History of Art)
  • Women Studies
  • Yoga

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