UGC - NET/JRF in Tourism - The Easy Way to Crack It.

National Eligibility Test (NET) to determine eligibility for Assistant Professorship and Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) to determine the eligibility for the Assistant Professorship and Scholarship – is conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to improve quality in teaching and research. 

Clearing both NET and JRF will make a candidate eligible for appointment of Lecturers/Assistant Professor in Colleges and Universities. 

Qualifying JRF will give eligibility for the candidate to apply for Ph.D. in any University and avail Scholarship with in a time frame of Two Years from the date HE/SHE has cleared the JRF. JRF is awarded for a period of three to five years on fulfillment of certain conditions. 

The candidates have to ensure that they have opted for both Assistant Professorship and Junior Research Fellowship in the application form. 

The best part of UGC NET/JRF test is that, it is being conducted twice in a year in the months of June and December. The candidates generally get confused between the CSIR NET and UGC NET. 

CSIR NET is conducted by UGC for Sciences and UGC NET for Social Sciences. Usually there will be a gap of one month between these two exams both in conducting the test and announcing the results.

University Grants Commission (UGC) has started conducting a common exam for both Assistant Professorship and Junior Research Fellowship from 1990.

As of now there are 99 subjects in whom UGC conducts the NET exam and Tourism is 93^rd subject.

Tourism NET/JRF is conducted from the year 2005 only.

The Notification for December NET is given in the months of Sep-Oct and for June NET in the months of Mar-Apr.

Pattern of NET Exam:

UGC NET Exam consists of three parts –

Part – I of 60 Multiple Choice Questions for 100 Marks (50 Questions have to be attempted).

Each question carries 2 marks.

Candidate should make sure that he answers only 50 questions from the 60. Only first 50 will be considered in case of answering more than 50 questions. 

Tip: I would suggest the candidates to answer first paper form the end because at the beginning the questions are generally lengthy and it would eat away the time. Questions at the end are straight questions and if the candidate does not know the answer, he can move on with the next question. This is the best way to save some time for calculation part.

Part – II of 50 Multiple Choice Questions for 100 Marks. Each question carries 2 marks.

Part – III of 75 Multiple Choice Questions for 150 Marks. Each question carries 2 marks.

Happy news is that the syllabus for both Part – II and Part – III is same. 

The total marks for which NET exam conducted is 350. A candidate has to score just 200 and above to get eligibility for Assistant Professorship and more than 230 to get eligibility for Junior Research Fellowship. However this cut off changes from time to time based on the competition.

Earlier candidates were supposed to write descriptive in part - III of the NET exam along with multiple choice questions in Part – I and Part – II till 2011. From 2012, all the three papers in NET are made Multiple Choice Questions without Negative Marking. If Proper attention is paid in preparing for the test, Clearing NET/JRF is not a big deal.

Eligibility Criteria:

1. General Category – 55% in Masters or Equivalent.
2. OBC/SC/ST/PWD – 50% in Masters or Equivalent.
3. Appearing/appeared exams of final year, Masters’ Degree.
4. Appearing/appeared exams of third semester, Masters’ Degree.
5. If appeared earlier, must clear Masters’ Degree within two years of declaration of result with 55% (General) and 50% (OBC/SC/ST/PWD)
6. Ph.D. Degree holders before Sep 19^th 1991 are given relaxation of 5% marks (55% to 50%) for applying.
7. Candidate must appear the subject of Masters’ Degree only.
8. For Assistant Professorship – there is no upper age limit.
9. For JRF – 28 years, relaxation of 5 years for OBC/SC/ST/PWD/Women.

Syllabus:

Paper – I 

http://www.ugc.ac.in/net/syllabus.aspx

Paper II and Paper – III - Subject Sequence – 93 – Tourism Administration and Management.

http://www.ugc.ac.in/net/syllabus.aspx

How to Prepare for the Exam:

Preparing for Tourism – NET is not a herculean task, it is easy and adding up to this there are no proper Materials available for the same. 

Paper – I 

This is a common paper for all the subjects conducted by UGC – NET and the best way to prepare for this paper is to buy a book online and prepare simultaneously along with the preparation for Paper – II and Paper – III. Upkar and Arihant publications are advisable.

Arihant Publication – UGC – NET General Paper

http://www.snapdeal.com/product/ugc-netjrfslet-general-paper1-teaching/654616432211#bcrumbSearch:UGC%20NET/JRF

Upkar Publications – UGC – NET General Paper

http://www.flipkart.com/ugc-net-jrf-set-teaching-research-aptitude-general-paper-i-english-1st/p/itmdyu9qzezhh3hh?pid=9788174820556&ref=L%3A-4945943476961589744&srno=p_1&query=UGC+NET+general+paper&otracker=from-search

Paper – II and Paper – III

Even though there are few publishers like Truman series, Cosmos Bookhive publishers and Arihant publications, they were not successful in framing the books according to the syllabus. In spite of their efforts in writing books, these books do not fulfill the primary objective of covering all the topics for the exam and become more skeptical in subjects like tourism. When a candidate is preparing from these books, knowingly or unknowingly HE/SHE will be driven in to the topics which are not needed for the exam and the candidate is wasting time in reading unnecessary things. Keeping this in view I have prepared few presentations which are short and crisp and will guide the participants…

Chapter – 01, Tourism Introduction.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-01-tourism-introduction-21674204

Chapter – 02, Tourism Resources.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-02-tourism-resources

Chapter – 03, Accommodation and Hotel Industry.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-03-accommodatn

Chapter – 04, Tourism Transportation.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-04-transport-in-tourism

Chapter – 05, Travel Agency and Tour Operations Business.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-05-tourism-business

Chapter – 06, Tourism Marketing.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-06-tourism-marketing

Chapter – 07, Tourism Planning.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-07-tourism-planning

Chapter – 08, Research Methodology – prepare from C.R. Kothari

http://www.amazon.in/Research-Methodology-Techniques-C-Kothari/dp/8122436234/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443860142&sr=1-1&keywords=research+methodology+by+kothari

Chapter – 09, Tourism Management.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-09-tourism-management

Chapter – 10, Tourism Finance.

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismch-10-tourism-finance-mgt

Miscellaneous

India – General Knowledge

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismindia

Tourism Attractions in India

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/ugc-nettourismtourism-attractions

World Heritage Sites of India

http://www.slideshare.net/artistramakrishna/world-heritage-sites-of-india-15812258

The Best book that would guide the candidates for preparing for Tourism – NET is “Tourism – Principles and Practices” by Swain and Mishra.

http://www.amazon.in/Tourism-Principles-Practices-Oxford-Education/dp/0198072368/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443860234&sr=1-3&keywords=tourism

Important Topics out of syllabus from where questions are asked regularly: 

1. Current affairs like “Safaigiri Singathon and Awards”, World Tourism Rankings”.
2. Tourism Organizations, their year of establishment, Head Quarters, CEOs.
3. Countries, Capitals, Currencies, official carriers, Airports and their codes.
4. India – States, Capitals, air carriers, Airports – Names, Tourism Taglines.
5. India – Railway Zones, Head Quarters, National Highways, Water Highways.
6. Luxury Trains and Toy Trains of India.
7. India – Havelis, Forts, Palaces, Chaitya Grihas, Mountain passes.
8. India – Museums, Gardens, Caves, Ports, Beaches, Islands, Waterfalls.
9. India – Tribes, Classical Dances, Folk Dances, Rivers, Geographical Indicators.
10. Popular Tourism Books and their authors.
11. India – Famous Shrines – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Buddism and Christian.
12. Famous Hotels and their chains in India.
13. Popular Personalities and their contribution to Tourism.
14. Important Five Year Plans, Days and Dates.
15. India – List of Cruise Ships.
16. India – World Heritage Sites and Tentative List.

Scope: 

Clearing Tourism NET will provide an opportunity to apply for Assistant Professorship in any college or University if there is a Vacancy. The NET qualified candidates will be directly called for an interview on application. NET Qualified candidates are not provided with any scholarship and Government is in a plan to do so in near future.

JRF qualified candidates are eligible to apply for Ph.D. under any professor/University within two years after the declaration of result. 

Universities also do conduct separate entrance examinations for Ph.D. and a candidate has to obtain single digit rank to get a seat. Central Universities provide a stipend of Rs. 8000/month if a candidate registers for Ph.D. through university entrance.

It is advisable to go for Central universities through their separate entrance examination because it would help the candidate in terms of funding and exposure. Candidates can also prepare for the NET exam even after joining central universities.

 

Critics:

I am not the right one to comment on the quality of the test conducted by CBSE now but yes there have been many critics of the NET. People who clear the NET praise it and People who do not clear call it nonsense. But however UGC has made it mandatory to clear NET/JRF for recruiting candidates in to teaching and research. Even though there is no negative marking or descriptive testing, I would suggest going through the process for eligibility criteria. There have been many initiatives form the government to improve the quality of test from time to time. There may be negative marking in near future too.

But to my opinion neither a Ph.D. nor a NET/JRF can accurately become a yard stick for quality of teaching. 

For detailed information candidates can log on to:

About the NET:

http://www.ugc.ac.in/net/aboutnet.aspx

NET – Important Dates, Results, Eligibility Criteria and filling the application form

http://cbsenet.nic.in/cbsenet/Welcome.aspx

--Ramakrishna Kongalla--