An All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report from 2019 revealed that the number of PhD degrees awarded has increased by 60 per cent in the last five years. Further, despite an increase in the number of students enrolling for PhDs between 2010 and 2017, the quality of the research ecosystem still remains poor.
Issues related to quality and quantity of PhDs in India

• Unethical practices: Many scholars pay substandard and predatory journals to publish their papers without sufficient review, which has weakened the quality of India’s PhDs.
• Inadequate funding: Due to insufficient scholarships and stipends, many students complete their doctoral degrees in hurry rather than taking the time needed for quality research.
• Lack of intent for research work: Many students join the Ph.D. programmes because they are not able to get a job, or they want to prepare for a competitive exam, or the teachers who need a Ph.D. for promotion. Thus very few PhDs are actually pursued with the intent of research work.
• Lack of adequate institutions: According to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) report from 2019, out of all the universities, colleges and standalone educational institutions in India only 2.7 per cent offer PhD programmes and 35.04 per cent of the colleges run postgraduate level programmes.
• Lack of attractive job opportunities: Private colleges and universities often offer meagre salaries and no research opportunities. Hence, quality PhD graduates have to move outside India for research work, which has led to a ‘brain drain’.

In this context, University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of PhD Degree) Regulations, 2022 can help in the following manner:

• Publishing a research paper in a peer-reviewed journal is no longer mandatory for obtaining a PhD degree. This will help in curbing unethical practices such as pay-to-publish or plagiarism, which often lead to poor candidates getting PhD degrees.
• It abolished the MPhil as per recommendation of National Education Policy 2020 and revised eligibility criteria to allow student to pursue PhD after 4 year graduation. This move is intended to attract younger students for research.
• It has introduced a new requirement for PhD scholars to train in teaching/ education/ pedagogy/writing related to their chosen subject during their doctoral period.To ensure the quality of output, research scholars will have to appear before a Research Advisory Committee to present the progress of their work in every semester instead of once in six months.
• The UGC will also allow part-time PhDs for working professionals.

While the new guidelines from UGC have tried to address the issues related to the quality and quantity of research in India, there is still scope to address the concerns related to funding, adequate research facilities, collaboration with foreign universities etc.