Banaras Hindu University – BHU PhD Admission 2026-27

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh invites application for PhD Admission 2026-27.

Modes of Admission

I. JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) Mode:

Candidates with the following eligibility can apply for admission to Ph.D. programmes under this mode:

• Candidates who have qualified for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) of UGC/CSIR, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), or any other national agency can apply for admission to Ph.D. programmes under this mode, provided that the validity of fellowship (3 years/2years/1year) declared by the above agencies must not have expired on the date of submission of the online application form.
• Note: Candidates eligible for JRF through any other national body/agency on the basis of their NET score of UGC/CSIR (such as NFOBC, NFSC and NFST) are not eligible to apply under this mode.

II. NET (National Eligibility Test) Mode:

The following candidates are eligible to apply for admission to Ph.D. Degree programmes under this mode:

• Candidates who have qualified under Category 1 (JRF qualified candidates), Category 2 (qualified for Assistant Professorship without JRF) and Category 3 (qualified neither for JRF nor for Assistant Professorship but eligible for admission to Ph.D. only) in the UGC/CSIR NET; or
• Candidates who have qualified under ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.); or
• Candidates who have qualified under GATE

subject to the condition that their score/marks written on score card as provided by testing agency is valid on the date of submission of the online application form (i.e. the date of declaration of their result must not be older than one year from the date of submission of the online application form).

III. Direct Admission:

A candidate who fulfils one of the following requirements may be considered for admission to the Ph.D. programme under the Direct Admission, provided his/her subject is mentioned under one of the subject baskets of any department in the section B of this Ph.D. admission bulletin:

• Candidate holding a Nationally or Internationally renowned Ph.D. scholarship, the value of which is at par or greater than UGC/CSIR JRF.
• Candidate occupying senior management position in a government department/ public sector undertaking/ private industry (of repute and belonging to the top management of the firm), equivalent to pay matrix level -12, which is not recognized as centre of research by the University, may be admitted to the Ph.D. programme with prior approval of the Vice Chancellor provided he/she has at least 12 years of professional experience and has minimum age of 43 years. He/she must be sponsored as a part-time candidate by the said organization and the concerned DRC must be convinced that the candidate can effectively pursue his/ her Ph.D. work in his/her parent organization. Fulfilling 45 days per academic year (1st July to 30th June) of the residency period (physical presence on the campus and in the department) shall be mandatory for the candidates seeking admission under the aforesaid clause. The candidate is required to submit a No Objection Certificate as well as work experience certificate from the parent organization in the prescribed proforma (Annexure J of Ph.D. Ordinance).
• A candidate, working in an externally funded research project in the University as research personnel, may be allowed to register for a Ph.D. in the University, provided he/she publishes at least one research paper in a journal of repute after joining the project and out of the research work generated in the project. Provided that in such cases, the consent of the PI and the would be supervisor (in case Pl is not the supervisor) is available to the effect that the research work of the Project and that of the Ph.D. are overlapping and/or working in both simultaneously will not hamper the interest of either. Provided further that not less than one year duration is left for the completion of the externally funded research project from the last date of application for the Ph.D. programme. The DRC/SRC/CRC shall lay down the criteria for defining ‘journal of repute’ for the concerned Department/School/ Centre before the beginning of the Academic session. The candidate admitted to the Ph.D. Programme under this clause shall become eligible for BHU Research Fellowship only after completion of the project / exit from the project until completion of four years from the date of admission. Admissions done under this clause shall be counted towards the quota of the supervisor.
• A permanent teacher of the University or of the colleges admitted to the privileges of the University holding substantive post (including those on probation).
• A non-teaching permanent employee of the University holding substantive post for not less than 5 years, having outstanding performance in service besides having good academic records and passed a test as may be prescribed in the Admission Bulletin, may be considered. Provided that the merit of the application shall be decided by the committee constituted for this purpose by the University Admission Coordination Board (UACB).
• Candidates holding a P.G. degree (D.M/M.Ch./ M.D./M.S./DNB) of Medical Science.

Note:

• Candidates having a DST-INSPIRE fellowship are NOT eligible to apply for admission in the Ph.D. programme, under any mode.
• Requests for a change of option/preference/mode of admission will not be entertained after the final submission of the online application form.

Eligibility Criteria

• Candidates, for being eligible for admission to Ph.D. program, must possess the minimum eligibility criteria in terms of educational qualification.
• The candidate must have passed the qualifying examination as mentioned in brochure with at least 55% in the aggregate or equivalent grade point average. For Faculty of Management Sciences, the candidate must have passed the qualifying examination with at least 60% in the aggregate or equivalent grade point average in the qualifying examination.
• Candidates must read the Ph.D. Admission Information Bulletin to ascertain their eligibility criteria and seat availability at the time of submitting application form.

Merit Preparation

Under the JRF mode and direct mode, will be based on merit, with 100% weightage given to the interview marks.

Under NET mode shall be done on Merit based on the total score of 100 that will come from two components –

• The 70% weightage of the Percentile of the candidate in UGC/CSIR NET/ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.) /GATE examination. In case of UGC/CSIR NET examination it is the weightage of percentile as provided by the agency. However, for GATE-qualified/ ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.) candidates, given that the agency conducting the examination does not provide percentile in the scorecard, the percentile for the purpose of preparation of the common merit list shall be calculated by the University using the candidate’s All India Rank (AIR) and the total number of candidates appeared in the concerned GATE/ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.) paper, as reported in the official GATE Statistical Bulletin and the Rank Card – ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.), as the case may be, for the respective year. In such cases the percentile shall be calculated as per the following method 𝑃 (𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑒) = { (𝑁 − 𝑅 + 1) / 𝑁 }× 100 where  N is the total number of candidates appeared in the concerned GATE/ ICAR AICEJRF/SRF (Ph.D.) paper and R is the candidate’s AIR/overall rank.
• The 30% weightage of interview percentile as computed using the method given below – The following formula will be used to calculate the percentile of a candidate whose interview marks under a particular subject basket is, say, T: 𝑃 = (𝑀/𝑁) × 100
  • P: Denotes the computed percentile of the interview marks of that candidate in the mentioned subject basket.
  • N: Denotes the total number of candidates who appeared in the interview for that subject basket.
  • M: Number of candidates who secured an interview mark less than or equal to his/her marks (T).

Interview

• The candidate is required to appear before an interview committee of the concerned discipline/department/centre/school. Members of interview committee will asses the performance of candidates separately.
• For each mode of admission, the interview will be of 30 marks. The average of the marks awarded by the members of the interview committee shall be awarded to the candidate.
• For any OU where subject‑specific thrust‑area knowledge is crucial to decide his/her suitability as a Ph.D. scholar, there shall be a screening test as decided by the concerned OU. For admission in such OU, the screening test, document verification, and the interview shall be conducted together and only those candidates who qualify in the screening test shall be considered for admission on the basis of merit preparation rule provided in clause A.3. The OUs in which screening test will be conducted have been identified in Section B. Other details of the screening test including syllabus, evaluation method and mode of the test etc. will be notified on www.bhuonline.in.

Calling of the Applicants to Appear in the Interview:

• Under the JRF mode of admission all the candidates shall be called to appear in the interview.
• Underthe NET mode of admission,ten candidates, against each advertised seat, shall be called to appear in the interview, in the order of merit, based on the computed total percentile of UGC/CSIR NET examination/GATE examination or score of ICAR-SRF (Ph.D.) examination, as the case may be. However, keeping in view the total number of applications received, the concerned OU may invite up to a maximum of 15 candidates for each advertised seat after obtaining prior approval of the University Admission Coordination Board (UACB).
• If the number of applications, under NET mode, for each advertised seat is less than 10, all candidates will be called.

Application Process

• The candidates are required to register themselves for admission to Ph.D. Degree programmes of the university using the registration link available on university admission information website www.bhuonline.in.
• After registration, your admission portal will be created that can be accessed using the credentials sent on registered email after registration.
• The link to access Ph.D. Admission Information Bulletin is also available on the candidate’s portal.
• After registration, the candidates may apply for Ph.D. admission in different modes of Ph.D. admission through their admission portal.

• Start of Online submission of application form: 6 October, 2026
• Last date for Online submission of application form: 21 October, 2026
• Correction window: 21-23 October, 2026
• Issue of call letter: 29 October, 2026 to 31 October, 2026
• Physical verification of documents & interview: 12 November, 2026 to 19 November, 2026
• Publication of result, offer letter and link for fee submission (there shall be maximum 4 rounds of result publication): 25 November, 2026 to 15 December, 2026
• Date of reporting to the department/centre/school: 16 December, 2026

• Notification
• Brochure
• Application
• BHU Website