Highlights From now, for the appointment to the post of Assistant professor, candidates will have to possess a PhD degree. In 2018, these new regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) were announced by then Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. New Delhi: In a new regulation that will be applicable from the academic session of 2021-2022, PhD has been made mandatory for recruitment of teachers in universities, apart from cracking the National Eligibility Test (NET). The rule, introduced in 2018, will be implemented this year. What was the criteria earlier: Earlier, those with PhD degree or qualified with NET masters degree were eligible to apply for assistant professor, the entry-level position, in universities. During the appointment of Assistant Professors, a weightage of 5 to 10 marks was given to the candidates who passed the NET exam, while PhD candidates were given a weightage of 30 marks. This lead to tipping the scale against those who just cleared NET exams.