What is the Difference Between NET and JRF?
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and National Testing Academy (NTA) jointly conducts National Eligibility Test (NET) to determine eligibility for lectureship and to endow Junior Research Fellowships (JRF).
The difference between NET and JRF is that NET is Entrance Exam conducted by NTA whereas the JRF is a post which comes under NET Exam. That means, for JRF, you have to appear for UGC NET Exam.
JRF Eligibility – Who can take advantage of Scholarship?
UGC allocates a number of fellowships to the universities that lie under the University Grants Commission, and only these universities can choose the candidates which can be awarded UGC NET JRF Fellowships.
As per the NET JRF Eligibility Criteria, the Candidates who have qualified in NET can only be shortlisted for UGC Scholarship by universities/colleges.
UGC NET JRF 2018 Scholarship Details | Tenure, Amount and other Allowances
Check out the NET JRF Scholarship amount, duration and other related details below. Please scroll down!
Tenure of fellowship – Initially for 2 years.
The duration can be extended further for a period of three years if the research work done by any candidate is found satisfactory by the concerned department of the University/College.
NET JRF Scholarship Amount – INR 25,000 (for initial 2 years) and INR 28,000 (for remaining tenure).
Contingency for Humanities and Social Sciences – INR 10,000/- per annum for initial two years and INR 20,500/- per annum for remaining three years.
Contingency for Science – INR 12,000/- per annum for initial two years and INR 25,000/- per annum for remaining three years.
Escorts/Reader Assistance – INR 2,000/- per month in case of physically and visually challenged candidates.
HRA – As per University/Institute rules.
Career Scope after Qualifying UGC NET JRF 2018 – Benefits of Clearing NET JRF
The candidates who qualify the UGC NET JRF Test will be eligible to perform the lectureship or research work in any prestigious Indian University.
There are certain laboratories and institutes, which functions under the University Grants Commission, they only accept the candidates who are having UGC NET JRF qualification.
And almost every month, many organizations and companies release various vacant posts (containing good salary packages), only for UGC NET qualified Junior Research Fellows. So this is a wonderful opportunity for all the selected candidates.
The NET JRF Exam conducted by UGC is surely a gateway to excellent job opportunities. As per the current situation, the Education industry jobs are considered as one of the most secured, reputed and well-paying jobs. So one should definitely appear in NET JRF Exam to actualize his/her dream of becoming a Research Fellow or teacher.
Selection Criteria for Awarding Junior Research Fellowships
First of all, the candidates will have to qualify the UGC NET Exam by scoring minimum marks to be obtained for considering a candidate for the award of JRF. They are required to obtain minimum marks in Paper I, Paper-II.
A merit list will be prepared for the qualified candidates. Amongst them, top 6% candidates will be awarded the Assistant Professor post which was 15% earlier.
The remaining candidates who have opted for NTA NET JRF as an option, while filling the NET JRF Form will be awarded based on the following criteria.
The Commission provides a minimum of 3200 fellowships in each UGC-NET exam.
The allocation NET JRF slots among different subjects are done category wise.
As per the Government of India Reservation Policy, the reservation provided for the following 4 categories are mentioned in the table below.
| S.No. | Categories | Reservation |
| 1. | Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 27% |
| 2. | Scheduled Caste (SC) | 15% |
| 3. | Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 7.5% |
| 4. | Person with Disabilities (PWD) | 3% |
The Category wise slots available for each category are as follows:
| S.No. | Categories | Reservation | No. of Seats |
| 1. | Other Backward Classes (OBC) | 27% | 864 |
| 2. | Scheduled Caste (SC) | 15% | 480 |
| 3. | Scheduled Tribe (ST) | 7.5% | 240 |
| 4. | Person with Disabilities (PWD) | 3% | 960 |
| 5. | General Category (Unreserved) | 47.50% | 1520 |
| Total- 3200 |
The calculation is based on the number of candidates who have opted NET JRF and qualify for lectureship eligibility category wise in each subject to the total number of candidates qualified for lectureship who opted for JRF in that category overall subjects multiplied by the total number of fellowships to be awarded to that category.
The nearest whole number provides the number of slots in that category.
UGC NET JRF Syllabus- Essential thing to Prepare for UGC NET JRF 2018!
After knowing the details like eligibility, career scope, selection criteria of UGC NET JRF Exam, its time to start your preparation for the exam. The essential requirement to start your preparation is the knowledge of UGC NET JRF Syllabus.
If the number of JRF slots obtained for any subject is less than 1, it will be taken as 1, however, for the fractions greater than 1, the figure will be rounded off to the nearest whole number.
The UGC NET JRF Syllabus consists of total 100 subjects. The detailed syllabus for all the subjects is provided at the above link. The candidates can download the UGC NET JRF Syllabus for all the subjects and start their preparation for the UGC NET JRF 2018.