Karnataka State Eligibility Test (KSET) 2019 notification has been delayed for quite long. It has now come to light that the delay is because University of Mysore, which has been conducting the exam, is waiting to get its nodal agency status renewed.
A team from the University Grants Commission (UGC) visited the university earlier this week for inspection and going through documents. After carrying out due procedures, the commission will notify whether the same body will conduct the exam this year also, or not.
Usually nodal agency status are renewed for three years. So if the status gets a green signal, then the university will hold not only KSET 2019, but also KSET 2020, and KSET 2021.
Last year University of Mysore had published K SET notification on August 21, and opened the facility to submit application forms from August 23. Candidates could apply until September 29, 2019 without any late fee, and with a late fee, the online form could be submitted until October 10. Five more days time was given to submit the hard copy of the form with bank challan, category certificates, at the nodal centres. The exam was conducted on December 30.
If the nodal agency status is announced by the end of this month, then K SET notification 2019 will probably be released either soon thereafter, or in January 2020. In such a scenario, candidates can look forward to the exam being held in January 2020 at the earliest, or anytime between February to April 2020. Nevertheless, it will be the decision of the nodal agency only to determine the exam date and other details.
Aspiring lecturers and assistant professors in Karnataka have grown a little worried over K SET notification 2019. After all, the KSET is the only state level eligibility test to determine the eligibility of individuals to become assistant professors. It is mandatory to pass this test before competing for an assistant professor job in universities, colleges, institutions that are government, or aided, or private in Karnataka.
The Karnataka State Eligibility Test is held along the similar lines of UGC NET. It has two papers, I and II. Paper I has 50 questions of 100 marks, paper II has 100 questions of 200 marks. Last year, candidates were given 1 hour to solve the first paper, and 2 hours to solve the second, and there was a 30 minute break between the two.
It may be noted that UGC NET has done away with the practice of holding the two papers in separate time slots. Instead now, UGC NET paper 1 and paper 2 are held continuously for 3 hours. Whether this change gets implemented in KSET also or not, remains to be seen.
The nodal agency status of University of Mysore has been renewed twice. KSET exams have insofar been held peacefully, without any hiccups. Based on the latest visit of the UGC team, a decision will be taken, after taking into account parameters like infrastructure, performance, and other statistics. Candidates can expect the notification either by end of this month, or early next month.