Central University of Karnataka PhD Admission 2026 (Feb)

Central University of Karnataka (CUK) invites application for PhD admission in science and engineering programmes for 2025-26 under the entrance examination category. The eligible candidates shall attend the entrance test conducted at the University.

Eligibility Criteria

The following candidates shall directly appear for an interview:

• Candidates who have qualified for national level examinations [such as JRF (UGC /CSIR /DBT /ICMR / ICSSR), NET (UGC/CSIR), GATE or equivalent, etc.)].
• Candidates who have qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) under PH.D only (Category-3).
• Candidates who have secured a DST-INSPIRE Fellowship.
• Candidates with Central Government and State Government sponsored fellowships
• National/State level Teacher fellowship holders.

Minimum Qualification

• PhD Physics
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in different branches of Physics from any University / Institute recognized by the UGC/ MHRD for this purpose with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC (NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Chemistry
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in different branches of Chemistry from any University/Institute recognized by the UGC / MHRD or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Mathematics
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in Mathematics from any University/Institute recognized by the UGC/ MHRD or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Life Sciences
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in different branches of Life sciences from any University/Institute recognized by the UGC / MHRD or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Geology
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in Geology from any University/Institute recognized by the UGC/ MHRD or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Electronics and Communication Engineering
  • M.E/M.Tech degree in Electronics and Communication/ Electronics/ Communication/ Microwave Engineering Engineering from any University/ Institute recognized by the UGC/MHRD/AICTE or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of four years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Electrical Engineering
  • M.E/M.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from any University/ Institute recognized by the UGC/ MHRD/AICTE or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of four years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Computer Science
  • M.Phil. with course work or Master’s degree in Computer Science/ Master of Computer Applications from any University/Institute recognized by the UGC / MHRD or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of three years duration from a recognized University/Institute.
• PhD Mechanical Engineering
  • B Tech/B.E and M. Tech/ME in relevant fields of Mechanical Engineering from any University/ Institute recognized by the UGC / MHRD / AICTE or foreign university (as per the AIU foreign equivalence list) with at least 55% marks (50% for SC, ST, OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, PWD and Kashmiri Migrant and non-migrants Students), preceded by a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent Degree of four years duration from a recognized University/Institute.

See notification for exact reuirements.

Candidates who have qualified Semester-III and currently pursuing Semester-IV of M.Sc/M.E/M.Tech/MCA degree are also eligible to write Ph.D entrance examination. If they qualify the Ph.D entrance examination they may take admission for the Ph.D programme. However, they will be allowed to join for Ph.D programme in the academic year 2026-27. They must ensure that they qualify the M.Sc/M.E/ M.Tech/MCA degree of respective programme before commencement of Ph.D programme.

Application Process

• The candidate must register for Ph.D. admission through the online SAMARTH registration portal (https://cukadm.samarth.edu.in/).
• Submission of the online registration forms is mandatory for Ph.D. admissions.
• The candidates are advised to refer to the user manual for online registration on the SAMARTH portal.

Selection Process

The selection process for Ph.D. admission are as follows:

• 70% weightage is given to JRF, NET, and allied qualifications or Entrance Score, PG programme marks, and project proposal.
• 30% weightage is given for online presentation and viva-voce.

The distribution of marks within these weightages is as follows:

Weightage	Criteria	Range	Total marks
70%	JRF (UGC/ CSIR/DBT..etc)	JRF (UGC/CSIR/DBT..etc): 50 marks DST-INSPIRE/Other. Fellowships: 45 marks NET (UGC/CSIR). NET-PHD only. GATE. etc: 40 marks	Max. 50 marks
	OR
	Entrance test score	50% marks of the eligible entrance score	Max. 50 marks
	PG programme marks	> 80%: 10 marks >60%: 8 marks >55% (50 others) -60%: 6 marks	Max. 10 marks
	Online Written test before interview	10 marks	Max. 10 marks
30%	Online Presentation on a proposed field of research	10 marks	Max. 10 marks
	Online Viva-voce on domain knowledge	20 marks	Max. 20 marks

Candidates securing a minimum of 50% marks (45% for SC, ST. OBC {NON CREAMY LAYER}, EWS) in the combined score of the 70% and 30% weightage marks calculations will be eligible to be considered for admission as per the merit list.

The guidelines for Ph.D entrance test in science and engineering programmes are as follows:

• Entrance Test will be conducted on 09-03-2026 at the university campus.
• Candidates must physically come to the campus to attend the entrance test.
• Entrance Test: 25% general aptitude and 75% subject-specific content.
• Entrance test will be of MCQ format, with a total of 100 marks.

• Start Date of registration: 6 February, 2026
• Last date for Application: 2 March, 2026
• Date of declaration of eligible candidates to write the entrance examination: 5 March, 2026
• Date of addressing grievance on eligibility to write the entrance examination: 5 – 6 March, 2026
• Date of conducting entrance examination at CUK campus (Only at CUK campus): 9 March, 2026
• Date of interviews: 9 – 10 March, 2026
• Date of declaration of selected candidates: 12 March, 2026

• Notification
• CORRIGENDUM
• Application Form
• Central University of Karnataka Website