What is the nature of the "assistant professor" position in India?
Indian universities are not very homogeneous, but it may be helpful to divide them into two categories:
(1) National institutes/universities:The top-tier universities with highly competitive admissions and recruitment processes. A commonly stated figure is that 1% of applicants make it to these institutes, though I think it may now be closer to 10%, with more institutes opening in recent years. In this category, an Assistant Professor must hold a PhD and have 3 years post-doctoral experience.
(2) Other universities: One requires a Master degree and must qualify a national-level entrance exam to become Assistant Professor. Yes, one may continue in this post without a doctorate, though in practice this is rare. Full professors (and perhaps associate professors too- not sure on this) require PhD.
The second category might appear strange from a US perspective. It may help to recognize that these universities tend to place pedagogy over research. This is an outcome of having a large population and limited employment prospects without a college degree.
The University Grants Commission of India (UGC India) is a statutory government body tasked with the development, implementation and monitoring of quality standards in higher education.
Just a few weeks ago, UGC India released the Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education Regulations 2018. The Regulations apply to "... every University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, Provincial Act or a State Act, every Institution including a Constituent or an affiliated College recognized by the Commission, in consultation with the University concerned under Clause (i) of Section 2 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and every Institution deemed to be a University under Section 3 of the said Act."
The minimum qualifications required for the post of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Senior Professor, and other posts in a University are defined by the Regulations.
The Regulations are quite involved and appear to have internally conflicting provisions at times (at least to my eyes). I've drawn out the relevant sections here, but you can access the full document online.
3.7 The Ph.D. Degree shall be a mandatory qualification for appointment and promotion to the post of Professor. 3.8 The Ph.D. Degree shall be a mandatory qualification for appointment and promotion to the post of Associate Professor. 3.9 The Ph.D. Degree shall be a mandatory qualification for promotion to the post of Assistant Professor (Selection Grade/Academic Level 12) in Universities. 3.10 The Ph.D. Degree shall be a mandatory qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Assistant Professor in Universities with effect from 01.07.2021.
For direct recruitment in the Science Discipline, Section 4.0 lays out that Assistant Professors must have either of the following:
A Master's degree with 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point-scale wherever the grading system is followed) in a concerned/relevant/allied subject from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign university AND the candidate must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC or the CSIR, or a similar test accredited by the UGC.
Candidates may be exempt from the NET if they registered for a Ph.D. programme prior to July 11, 2009 subject to the fulfillment of the following conditions:
- The Ph.D. degree of the candidate has been awarded in a regular mode;
- The Ph.D. thesis has been evaluated by at least two external examiners;
- An open Ph.D. viva voce of the candidate has been conducted;
- The Candidate has published two research papers from his/her Ph.D. work, out of which at least one is in a refereed journal;
- The candidate has presented at least two papers based on his/her Ph.D work in conferences/seminars sponsored/funded/supported by the UGC / ICSSR/ CSIR or any similar agency
OR
- A Ph.D degree has been obtained from a foreign university/institution with a ranking among top 500 in the World University Ranking (at any time) by any one of the following: (i) Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) (ii) the Times Higher Education (THE) or (iii) the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai)
Overall, it makes for a rather interesting read if you're into that sort of thing.
Cheers.