Scrapping of MPhil:Boon or bane?

"With an MPhil degree, I am trained to do research. And I'm confident enough to complete PhD in 1.5 years as I already have the plan and design in mind to do research."

When Shem Shaji Baby, a PhD scholar says this, he echoes the thoughts of many like him who have benefited from having an MPhil degree before taking up doctoral research. Without an Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree, the duration needed to get a doctorate will be more, he feels.

MPhil acted as an interface between PG courses and PhD programmes. It has no significance in academics anymore as the programme has been scrapped under National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).

Shem disagrees with this. He elaborates, "I have made mistakes and learnt right ways of research. Equipped with the research design, scope and limitations, I can easily propose a topic for PhD."

The research aptitude or research writing environment in India is weak. Shem points out the drawback of the educational system: "The school system does not give any base for research studies. Those students who come from schools to universities copy from blogs or articles for their assignments. The basic training for those kids has not been given. This immediate training could be done through the MPhil, which has a research environment."

When students are immediately thrown into the PhD environment without any introduction, they will find it difficult to adjust. Shem explains, "Research scholars who joined after PG are unsure about the time going to be taken for their research. But those who finished their MPhil are relieved as they finished a PhD thesis in one year."

Research quality

Some private colleges have completely scrapped the MPhil programme. Rolla Das, a Bengaluru-based assistant professor, says, "The research skills are not innate. Writing skills are not innate. We don't understand this. These need to be taught and tested. In good research institutions, there used to be an entrance, course work, and comprehensive exams during the first year of PhD, even after a PG course. I can only imagine what's coming up next. The enrollment will go up, quality will be compromised."

Undergraduate courses, which have been extended to four years, are now the minimum qualification for PhD. With this, is it possible to get researchers with quality?

Since the complete implementation of NEP 2020 is yet to happen, nobody has the answers to this question. Still, Rolla finds it alarming. "UG courses, as of now, are not designed to cater to the research skills required for a doctoral programme," she says.

The chances of those who are not able to find a job after UG taking up PhD as an option are high, leading to substandard quality in research.

This will also compound the rural and urban divide. "Elite, private universities can show very promising courses, but not all. We are speaking of a national level approach. I don't think it's going to help," she says.

Academic implications

Xavier S J, Research Director at a college, argues that the scrapping of MPhil reduces the time required to acquire a PhD. "The move does not have any impact on research studies. Rather it saves an academic year and money," he says.

Xavier finds many of the fears unfounded. "In the current NEP 2020, the research interest is already included in the honours curriculum," he explains.

He added that after PG courses, students can clear either the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the entrance tests prescribed by the universities for the doctoral programme.

MPhil courses run from 10 months to one year. Xavier tells that the idea of carrying out research methodology for one full year with a dedicated guide was an added exercise on a time scale. "MPhil was more of an additional degree rather than something that helped one achieve academic depth."

As director of research, Xavier finds the extension of the UG programme a good move. "The NEP 2020 has taken the rigorous curriculum in the fourth year. The eighth semester is fully dedicated to learning research-related queries, even insisting on a dissertation work which may lead to quality publications at the degree level itself."

Thus, according to Xavier, the elimination of MPhil will not leave a void. If the faculties orient the students into research at the honours curriculum itself, as the NEP has spelt out, it would give an integrated interest among the students towards being budding researchers.

The entrance exams are not a time-consuming process as students can start appearing for NET exams while doing their PG. As a person who is interested in doing a PhD, Dhiraj D Sharma says the discontinuation of MPhil will not have much effect. He points out that compared to entrance exams, MPhil consumes more time.