Notification for SET likely in April

HYDERABAD: The long wait of post-graduates in the state to write the State Eligibility Test (SET) will end soon. Those who clear SET are eligible for lectureship, pursue PhD in state universities and apply for lecturer posts in degree colleges and assistant professor posts in universities in the state.Those who clear SET and get employment would be paid salaries as per the UGC norms.As the UGC has given the approval in principle for the conduct of SET in Andhra Pradesh to Osmania University, the university is preparing to conduct the test for the first time.It may be noted that the state government has decided to conduct the state-level eligibility test (SET) after a gap of nearly 15 years.The decision follows the latest norms of the University Grants Commission that made the SET, a mandatory qualification for appointment as a lecturer.The university is preparing to issue notification for SET in April after completing the formalities like accreditation to be given by the UGC.As SET is similar to that of National Eligibility Test (NET) a national-level test for post-graduates, many PGs, who could not clear NET are preparing for SET to get eligibility to degree college lecturer posts and assistant professor posts in the universities in the state.The universities and the state government could not fill some degree college lecturer and assistant professor posts as those who had cleared NET were not available during the last recruitment.Many private PG colleges and some universities were depending on PG candidates as there was scarcity of NET qualified candidates in the state.A team from UGC would visit the university on March 6 to examine the facilities and assess the preparedness of the university for granting accreditation to conduct the SET, which is only a formality.Recently vice-chancellor of OU Prof S Satyanarayana inaugurated the newly-created office of the State Eligibility Test (APSET) at the Centre for Distance Education, on the campus.The office houses the chambers of the member-secretary and staff of SET.It has a mini conference hall and a processing centre.Satyanarayana said notification for SET would be issued in April after the UGC team’s visit, but the the examination schedule is yet to be finalised.