Punjab Engineering College PhD Admission 2026 (Jan)

Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh invites online application for PhD admission for the academic session 2025-26 (January 2026 Intake).

Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualifications:

• The candidate possessing the prescribed qualifications shall be eligible for admission to the PhD programme of the Institute. The Degrees obtained through distance education programmes shall not be considered.
• The academic programme as well as the Institute/University of qualifying degree must be recognized by AICTE /UGC. The academic programme of the autonomous Institutes established by the Parliament will not be required to have recognition of the UGC/AICTE. The degrees and academic programme of the Institute/University will be verified by the Departmental Admission Committee before registration of the candidate in PhD Programme.
• Minimum Qualification for Eligibility:
  • A Master’s Degree in Engineering/ Technology/ Sciences/ Humanities and Social Sciences/ Management or equivalent recognized by the Institute with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 6.0 on a 10-point scale or equivalent as determined by the Institute wherever letter grades are awarded in the qualifying degree, or 60% marks in aggregate where marks are awarded.
  • The candidate having Master’s Degree must possess full time Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent with a minimum CGPA of 6.0 on a 10-point scale or equivalent as determined by the Institute wherever letter grades are awarded in the qualifying degree, or 60% marks in aggregate where marks are awarded

Note: The candidate having Master’s Degree who have qualified any National/International Eligibility Test for PG/Ph.D. Program shall be given relaxation of 5% marks (0.5 CGPA on 10-point scale) either in UG or PG qualifying degree marks.

Direct Admission of B.E./B.Tech. Candidates to PhD programme

• To be eligible for the admission under this category, a candidate is required to have minimum CGPA of:
  • 0 (80%) or above with GATE or 8.5 (85%) or above without GATE for students graduated from PEC, CFTIs and other premium institutions at the end of the seventh semester (if applying during final year) under General category.
  • 0 (80%) or above with GATE or 8.5 (85%) or above without GATE for students graduated from PEC, CFTIs and other premium institutions at the end of the eighth semester (if applying after the completion of B.E./B.Tech) under General category.
• For SC/ST/PwD category students, the minimum CGPA requirement will be reduced by 0.5 (5%).
• Successful candidates in final year of undergraduate programme may be given provisional admission to the PhD programme. This admission shall be confirmed provided the student completes his/her undergraduate programme with required CGPA or marks percentage.
• Candidates from industry/research organisations are eligible for direct entry to PhD programme after BE/B.Tech. with minimum CGPA 8.0 (80%) or above and with 5 years relevant experience. Candidates applying under this category is required to submit a “No Objection Certificate” (Annexure-II) on a proper letterhead from the appropriate authority of the organization.
• Candidates getting direct entry to PhD programme after BE/ B.Tech will need to fulfil credit requirements through course work on pattern of courses offered to PG students and additional course requirements as per UGC.

PhD Full-Time (Teaching Assistantship (TA) and Research Assistantship (RA) as per MHRD norms)

A candidate, selected for the PhD Programme at PEC will be eligible for the financial support under the TA/RA category subject to the fulfilment of any one of the following three criteria:-

• B.Tech./M.E. or an equivalent degree as the qualifying degree,
• B.A (with B.Tech./ B.E. or equivalent degree) as the qualifying degree (only for Humanities),
• Tech./B.E./M.Sc./M.A./M.Com. or an equivalent degree as the qualifying Degree

Qualification

• A Master’s Degree in Engineering/ Technology/ Sciences/ Humanities and Social Sciences/ Management or equivalent recognized by the Institute with a minimum Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 6.0 on a 10-point scale or equivalent as determined by the Institute wherever letter grades are awarded in the qualifying degree, or 60% marks in aggregate where marks are awarded.
• The candidate having Master’s Degree must possess full time Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent with a minimum CGPA of 6.0 on a 10-point scale or equivalent as determined by the Institute wherever letter grades are awarded in the qualifying degree, or 60% marks in aggregate where marks are awarded. AND
• A GATE/JEST Qualified or a Junior Research fellowship (JRF) award from UGC/CSIR/NBHM/DBT/ or a National Eligibility Test /UGC NET including lectureship (Assistant Professorship)/Candidates with UGC-NET (Admission to Ph.D. only)/Candidates who qualifies the Institute’s written test.

Note

• A B.Tech./B.S./B.E. (or equivalent) degree from any IIT or NIT with a CGPA/CPI score of 8.00 (on 0-10 scale) and above is exempted from the mandatory requirement of qualified GATE. Candidates passed out from PEC and top 100 NIRF institutes are also eligible under this scheme with the same eligibility criterion as mentioned above. All such candidates have to qualify the entrance test conducted by the institute.
• The employee on roll (with or without pay) of any organization are not eligible for admission under this category.
• Candidates possessing a qualified GATE or UGC-NET award (under any category) are exempted from the Ph.D. Admission Entrance Test. All other candidates are required to qualify the entrance test conducted by the Institute.
• The maximum age limit for admission under this scheme is 30 years as on the last date of application to the Ph.D. program, with age relaxation applicable as per Government of India norms.
• The order of preference for the award of the scholarship for the selected candidates shall be as follows:
  • Candidates with a qualified GATE/UGC-NET (JRF) or CSIR (JRF) award.
  • Candidates with a UGC-NET (Assistant Professor) award.
  • Candidates with a UGC-NET (Admission to Ph.D. only) award.
  • Candidates who qualifies the Institute’s written test.

Fellowship

Fellowship/Scholarships are available to only Full Time research scholars.

1. PhD Full-Time Teaching Assistantship (TA) and Research Assistantship (RA)
2. PhD Full-Time (Under Institute Fellowship)
3. UGC-NET (under any category)
4. PhD (Full Time) with External Fellowships Like JRF/DST Inspire, Visvesvaraya etc.
5. Krishna D Mahajan Doctoral Scholars Fund for Excellence in Research (Metallurgical & Materials Engineering)
6. PhD (Full Time) for candidates/staff working under the Research projects sponsored by MHRD/DST/UGC or some other government agencies at PEC.
7. The candidates who have completed their M.Tech/M.E. degree through GATE are exempted from the institute PhD entrance test.

Note:

1. All the GATE qualified/ UGC NET award (under any category) are entitled for fellowship as per institute norms.
2. For GATE qualified candidates, marks secured by a candidate in the GATE examination be equal or more than the cut off qualifying marks in its respective category.

Admission Process

• Admission to the PhD programmes is made on the basis of interview for candidates having GATE qualified/ UGC NET award (under any category) and on the basis of written test and interview for all other candidates by PhD Admission Committee of the respective Departments provided the candidate fulfils all the requirements at the Institute level and the selected candidate deposits the requisite fees for the PhD Programme.
• The applications received will be processed in the various departments for interview.
• The PhD admission committee of the department will consist of Head of the Department, Members of Departmental Research Committee (DRC) and potential supervisors in various areas.

Entrance Test

• All eligible Non-GATE/ Non-NET candidates are required to appear in an objective type (MCQ) written test of PG level comprising two parts as mentioned below:
  • Paper-I: Research Methodology
    • 30 marks; Duration: 30 minutes
  • Paper-II: Area of Research/Specialization
    • 60 marks; Duration: 60 minutes
• Qualifying marks: 50 % of total marks.
• Syllabus of discipline paper-II will be standard GATE syllabus of application domain. The discipline for which GATE is not conducted the standard syllabus of UGC-NET exam in the application domain will be followed. The written test is only for Non-GATE / Non-NET candidates.
• The written test will be conducted by the Admission Office. Detailed guidelines for conducting the entrance test along with timeline will be uploaded by Chairman Admissions on the institute website later.
• All qualified candidates will be required to appear before the respective DRC for an interview/interaction comprising a brief presentation on the related research area. Qualified candidates may contact prospective supervisors in the Department/Centre.
• DRC will evaluate the candidates and award the marks out of 30 (10 marks each for presentation, interview, and academic achievements).
• Qualifying marks: 50% (15 out of 30 marks)
• Based upon their performance in both written test and interaction/interview with DRC, Admission Committee of respective Department/ Centre will recommend the merit list of candidates prepared on the basis of total score out of 100 for Non-GATE/ Non-NET and out of 30 for GATE qualified/NET qualified candidates.

Exemption from written (entrance) Test

• Part-Time PhD programme:
  • Regular employees PEC and other R&D Organization, National Laboratories, Public/Private Industry/ PSUs/ State Undertakings having an MoU with PEC and with adequate research facilities possessing First Division or 6.0 CGPA on 10-point scale (60%) or equivalent at M.Tech./PG level with minimum 2 years of relevant experience will be exempted from the written test.
• Full-Time PhD Programme:
  • GATE qualified or NET (under any category) from UGC, CSIR etc. qualified candidates will be exempted from the written test.
  • The candidates who have completed their M.Tech/ M.E. degree through GATE are exempted from the institute PhD entrance test.
  • The following UGC NET, qualified candidates are also exempted from the entrance test:
    • Category 1: Award of JRF and appointment as Assistant Professor.
    • Category 2: Appointment as Assistant Professor and admission to Ph.D.
    • Category 3: Admission to Ph.D. only.

Note: These candidates shall be required to appear before the Departmental PhD Admission Committee of respective department for interview/interaction and qualify as per the prescribed norms in terms of the eligibility conditions.

Application Process

• Applications and relevant self attested documents may be submitted through the link on institute website https://pec.ac.in/admissions/phd.
• Hard copy of the registration form along with self- attested photocopies of the relevant documents and proof of payment of non-refundable registration fee of Rs. 1000/- or 500/- (as applicable) is also to be submitted to Chairman Admissions, Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Sector – 12, Chandigarh – 160012 by hand /registered post/ speed post on or before the prescribed date and time.
• The candidates applying for more than one discipline should submit separate print-outs of the online registration form for the additional discipline.
• A candidate is permitted to apply for the maximum three disciplines only

• Online Registration and uploading of self-attested documents: 7 November, 2025 (Friday) to 25 November, 2025 (Tuesday) till 5:00 PM
• Last date for depositing hard copy of Registration Form along with supporting documents and proof of payment of registration fee: 26 November, 2025 (Wednesday) till 5:00 PM
• Dispatch of Registration Form to various Departments: 27 November, 2025 (Thursday)
• Publishing of final list of eligible candidates: 3 December, 2025 (Wednesday)
• Entrance Test for non-GATE/ non-UGC-NET candidates (details will be uploaded on institute website): 7 December, 2025 (Sunday)
• Selection of tentative topics, Interaction with perspective supervisors by the candidates along with filling of Annexure-III. Candidate has to submit filled Annexure-III in the department before interview: 8 December, 2025 (Monday)
• Interview in respective departments along with verification of documents (details will be uploaded on institute website): 8 December, 2025 (Monday)
• Last date for Submission of Result to DAA: 10 December, 2025
• Result intimation with waiting list: 17 December, 2025 (Wednesday)
• Payment of fees (Online): 17 December, 2025 (Wednesday) to 21 December, 2025 (Sunday)
• Intimation to selected candidates (if any) from the waiting list on institute website: 22 December, 2025 (Monday)
• Payment of fees (Online) by waitlisted candidates: 22 December, 2025 (Monday) to 24 December, 2025 (Wednesday)
• Reporting of PhD students in the respective departments: 5 January, 2026 (Monday)

• Brochure
• Application Form
• PEC Chandigarh Website