Hello Shonali,

Yes, you can appear for CSIR NET exam. As per the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) guidelines candidates having or pursuing their Master’s degree in Science Stream are only eligible to take CSIR NET exam.

They should have minimum 55% aggregate marks in Masters’ if they are from General/ OBC Category or if they belong to SC/ST/PwD categories they should have scored minimum 50% aggregate.

To apply for the CSIR NET exam candidate’s maximum age should be 28 years. SC/ST/OBC/PWD/female applicants have up to 5 years relaxation in age criteria.

For Assistant Professor, there is no upper age limit to apply.

Hello Shonali,

I know about two steams where engineering graduates with MTech are awarded SRF and not JRF.

CSIR’s GATE qualified Junior Research Fellowship for Ph.D. for Engineering Graduates:

CSIR has introduced a new research fellowship in 2002 for the GATE qualified candidates with BE/ BTech/ BArch/ BPharm degree to pursue research leading to Ph.D. This is known as the GATE qualified Junior Research Fellowship.

However, MTech candidates (either with BTech/ MTech or with MSc/ MTech) are not eligible for this fellowship. They have a separate opportunity for direct SRFship through an interview.

All those eligible for direct CSIR-SRF are not eligible to apply for JRF- GATE and the upper age limit for JRF shall be 28 years which is relaxable up to 5 years in the case of candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, OBC, women and physically handicapped applicants.

Hope this helps.