PRAYAGRAJ, Jan. 5 -- The Allahabad University (AU) has decided to allow teachers serving their probation period to supervise doctoral students from the 2025-26 academic session onwards-admissions for which are still ongoing. The move will benefit aspiring research scholars by enabling newly appointed faculty members to register PhD candidates under their supervision, provided their eligibility has been assessed and the seats were already advertised for the upcoming session. The university clarified that admission to PhD programmes and the allocation of research scholars will strictly adhere to the approved and advertised number of seats. Teachers currently on probation whose supervisory seats were notified earlier will be eligible to enroll doctoral scholars under the new provision. However, teachers appointed after the determination of supervisory seats will not be covered under this decision. Such faculty members will be permitted to supervise PhD students during their probation period only from the subsequent academic session. At Allahabad University, newly appointed teachers are generally placed on a one-year probation period following their appointment. The decision is being seen as a forward-looking step in higher education and research. University officials believe it will provide academic growth opportunities for teachers while strengthening research activities across the main campus and affiliated colleges. Increased research engagement by faculty members is also expected to improve the academic environment and benefit students. "Admission to PhD programmes and allocation of research scholars will be carried out strictly in accordance with the approved seats, including those already advertised for teachers currently under probation," said Prof Jaya Kapoor, public relations officer, Allahabad University, while confirming the development. As per norms, all teachers otherwise eligible to oversee doctoral researches as per UGC guidelines can supervise PhD scholars at AU with condition that each can accept just two such eligible scholars in an academic session with the rider that total PhD scholars does not exceed 4 for an assistant professor, 6 for an associate professor and 8 for a professor....