UGC NET December 2026: exam dates, application, syllabus, eligibility, cut-offs and how JRF works

UGC NET December 2026 exam dates and fee

Application fee: ₹1,150 (General/Unreserved), ₹600 (General-EWS and OBC-NCL), ₹325 (SC, ST, PwD/PwBD and third gender). Bank charges and GST are extra.

Read our news report from the day the form opened: UGC-NET December 2026 is open: apply by 28 October.

How to fill the UGC NET December 2026 application form

1. Go to ugcnet.nta.nic.in and download the Information Bulletin. Read the eligibility chapter before you start.
2. Register with your own email ID and mobile number. NTA has enabled sign-in through Meri Pehchaan, the government's single sign-on, and advises you to use Aadhaar verification because it also helps later when your JRF is processed.
3. Fill in the form and note the application number. You need a live photo by webcam or phone, a recent photo (10 kb to 200 kb, white background) and your signature (10 kb to 50 kb).
4. Pick your subject, the medium (English or Hindi; you cannot change it later) and four exam cities.
5. Pay the fee by card, net banking or UPI by 28 October, then download the confirmation page.

Only one application per candidate is allowed. If a payment fails, call your bank's helpline and then NTA (011-40759000) before paying again.

Who is eligible: master's marks and age limit

Marks. General, Unreserved and General-EWS candidates need at least 55% in a master's degree or equivalent from a UGC-recognised university, without rounding off. OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD/PwBD and third gender candidates need 50%. Final-year master's students can apply, but must pass with the required marks within two years of the NET result.

Four-year graduates. If you hold a four-year (eight-semester) bachelor's degree, you need 75% aggregate, with a 5% relaxation for reserved categories under UGC's 2022 PhD regulations. You may take NET in the subject you want to research, whatever your undergraduate discipline. There is a catch: a NET qualified on a four-year degree makes you eligible for JRF and PhD admission, but not for Assistant Professor. Our story on Delhi University's direct PhD route for four-year graduates shows how universities are using this.

Age. For JRF, you must not be older than 30 years on 1 December 2026. OBC-NCL, SC, ST, PwD/PwBD, third gender and women candidates get up to 5 years' relaxation. Research experience, an LL.M. and armed forces service also earn relaxation, but the total cannot go past five years. For Assistant Professor and PhD admission there is no upper age limit.

UGC NET syllabus and exam pattern

NTA does not send the syllabus. The bulletin points you to the UGC syllabus page at ugcnetonline.in, where each subject's syllabus can be downloaded.

Every correct answer gets 2 marks. A wrong answer costs nothing and an unanswered question gets zero, so do not leave anything blank. If you challenge the provisional answer key, it costs ₹200 per question, and the fee is not refunded.

Paper 1 is the same for everyone across all 87 subjects, and it counts for a third of your total. Do not treat it as a warm-up.

What is the passing score? Qualifying marks and how NTA sets cut-offs

There is no fixed pass mark. NTA's bulletin sets the result in five steps:

1. The number of candidates who qualify for Assistant Professor is set at 6% of the candidates who appeared in both papers (on the basis of a master's degree).
2. Those slots are shared out among categories according to the Government of India's reservation policy.
3. To be counted at all, you must appear in both papers and score at least 40% aggregate (120 out of 300) if you are General or General-EWS, or 35% (105 out of 300) if you are SC, ST, OBC-NCL, PwD/PwBD or third gender.
4. The slots are split by subject. The aggregate score at which a subject's slots fill up becomes that subject's cut-off for that category.
5. JRF slots are then allocated across categories in the same way.

So 120 marks is only the entry ticket. Look at the June 2026 numbers below: the Assistant Professor cut-off for General candidates ranged from 152 to 206 out of 300 in these subjects.

UGC NET June 2026 cut-offs and result: what to aim for

Cut-offs are out of 300. English and Commerce were re-examined on 9 and 10 September 2026, and their cut-offs come from NTA's list of 17 September. Reserved-category cut-offs are lower: in Education, OBC-NCL needed 192 for Assistant Professor. Treat them as a guide for December, not a promise.

NTA's press release of 28 August 2026 gives the scale of the June cycle. In 84 subjects, 7,73,806 registered and 6,07,151 appeared. Of these, 4,241 qualified for JRF and Assistant Professor, 45,904 for Assistant Professor and PhD admission, and 97,434 for PhD admission only. Our report on the June 2026 re-exam results has the subject detail, and the June 2026 e-certificates are already out.

How JRF works, and what the three NET categories mean

NET now has three outcomes. The bulletin's table is simple:

JRF candidates are admitted to a PhD through an interview under the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedures for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2022. The JRF offer is valid for three years from the date of the JRF award letter, and the fellowship is paid only once you find a place at a university, IIT or institution. UGC's JRF scheme page lists ₹37,000 a month for the first two years and ₹42,000 a month as SRF for the rest of the tenure, which is five years or until the thesis is submitted, whichever comes first.

Category 2 and 3 candidates can use NET in place of a university's own PhD entrance test. The NET marks carry 70% weightage and the university's interview carries 30%. These marks stay valid for PhD admission for one year from the result.

UGC NET and the Assistant Professor job

NET is an eligibility, not a job. UGC's 2018 regulations on minimum qualifications for teachers say an Assistant Professor in arts, commerce, humanities, education, law, social sciences, sciences and languages needs a master's degree with 55% in a relevant subject, plus NET (by UGC or CSIR) or an accredited SET/SLET, or a PhD awarded under UGC's PhD regulations. The December 2026 bulletin adds that hiring then follows the rules of the university, college or state government that advertises the post.

Gujarat: exam cities and GSET

The December 2026 bulletin lists 13 exam cities in Gujarat: Ahmedabad, Anand, Bardoli, Bhuj, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Mehsana, Modasa, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Vapi. Gujarati is one of the 87 subjects (subject code 37). In June 2026 its General cut-offs were 170 for JRF and 152 for Assistant Professor, the lowest in the table above.

Gujarat also runs its own test, the Gujarat State Eligibility Test (GSET), conducted by The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. GSET 2026 is on 29 November 2026, and its hall ticket goes live on 22 November, according to gujaratset.ac.in. Keep the difference in mind: under the rule quoted in NTA's bulletin, a SET cleared after 1 December 2002 makes you eligible only in universities and colleges of that state, while NET is valid across India. Only NET can give you a JRF.

UGC NET or CSIR NET: which one is yours?

Postgraduates in chemistry, physics, mathematics, life sciences and earth sciences take the Joint CSIR-UGC NET instead of UGC NET. Its December 2026 form is open until 5 November 2026, and the exam is on 19, 22 and 27 December (NTA notice of 7 October 2026). See our CSIR-UGC NET exam guide and the news report on the CSIR NET December 2026 form.

After NET, look at research options on CareerBox: PhD in arts and humanities and PhD in science. Follow results and answer keys on CareerBox News.