The University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC NET) 2024 exams will now be held on June 18 instead of June 16 as scheduled earlier because of a clash with the UPSC Prelims this year.
In an announcement on Monday, April 29, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar tweeted on social media platform X that the National Testing Agency (NTA) which conducts NET and UGC had changed the UGC-NET dates from June 16 (Sunday) to June 18 (Tuesday) "because of feedback received from candidates."
NTA will conduct UGC-NET in OMR mode across India on a single day. A formal notification will be issued later, he added.
According to reports the Indian student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had sent a letter to the NTA and the UGC, urging them to change the proposed date of the UGC NET exam, scheduled for June 16, 2024.
ABVP addressed concerns regarding the simultaneous scheduling of the UPSC Prelims examination by the Union Public Service Commission on the same date, which it said would create problems for students
Candidates who clear the prelims are eligible for the UPSC Civil Service Mains Exam
NTA had announced the UGC NET exam date on June 16, 2024, through a public notice on April 20. UPSC had also fixed the same date for the prelims through a notice dated March 19, 2024.
The UGC NET makes test-takers eligible for positions of assistant professor, junior research fellowship and assistant professor in Indian Universities and Colleges.