UGC NET 2026 Cutoff: Subject-Wise and Category-Wise Qualifying Marks for JRF, Assistant Professor and PhD

The UGC NET (University Grants Commission – National Eligibility Test) cutoff is the minimum score a candidate must secure to be declared eligible for Assistant Professor recruitment in Indian universities and colleges, for a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), or for PhD admission only. It is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).

Unlike a fixed pass mark, the UGC NET cutoff changes every session based on the difficulty level of the paper, the number of candidates who appeared, and the number of vacancies/seats available in each category. That's why a candidate scoring 170 in one subject may qualify, while someone scoring 190 in a tougher subject may not.

UGC NET June 2026 Cutoff PDF 

UGC NET June 2026 Cutoff: Key Facts

• The UGC NET June 2026 exam was held from 22 to 30 June 2026 in Computer-Based Test (CBT) mode.

• NTA declared the result and the official cutoff together on 28 August 2026, along with the final answer key, for 84 subjects.

• English, Commerce, and Sociology results have been withheld — NTA ordered a re-examination for these three papers on 9–10 September 2026 after errors were reported in the question papers. Cutoff and results for these three subjects will be announced after the re-test.

• Both Paper 1 and Paper 2 carry 2 marks per correct answer, with no negative marking.

• The minimum aggregate qualifying percentage (before the subject/category cutoff is applied) is 40% for General and General-EWS candidates and 35% for OBC-NCL, SC, ST, and PwBD candidates.

• Cutoff is published separately for three qualification types: PhD Only, JRF, and Assistant Professor, and separately again for each reserved category, including PwD sub-categories (Visual Impairment, Hearing Impairment, Locomotor Disability, and Other Disabilities & Autism).

How Does NTA Decide the UGC NET Cutoff Every Session?

The UGC NET cutoff is dynamic and relative, not fixed. Broadly, it depends on:

1. Number of candidates appearing in a subject and category — subjects with lakhs of candidates (like Political Science, History, Hindi, Geography, Computer Science and Applications, Education, and Economics) see heavy competition and their own cutoff trend.

2. Difficulty level of that subject's Paper 2 in the given session — a tougher paper generally pulls the cutoff down.

3. Category-wise reservation norms — separate cutoffs are computed for Unreserved (UR), OBC-NCL, EWS, SC, ST, and PwD candidates within each category.

4. Number of available slots for JRF (limited, fellowship-linked) versus Assistant Professor (larger pool) — this is why the JRF cutoff is almost always higher than the Assistant Professor cutoff for the same subject and category, and the PhD Only cutoff is typically the highest of the three.

5. Normalization across shifts, since UGC NET is held in multiple shifts and NTA equates scores using a percentile-based normalization formula before applying the cutoff.

Meeting the minimum aggregate percentage (40%/35%) alone does not guarantee qualification — a candidate must also clear the subject-and-category-specific cutoff released by NTA.

UGC NET 2026 Cutoff: PhD Only vs JRF vs Assistant Professor

 A JRF-qualified or PhD–only–qualified candidate is automatically also eligible for Assistant Professor; the reverse is not true.

UGC NET 2026 Subject-Wise and Category-Wise Cutoff Marks (Official)

Below are the official NTA cutoff marks for the UGC NET June 2026 session, as released on 28 August 2026. Figures are shown as JRF / Assistant Professor / PhD Only for each category. Only the five main categories are shown here for readability — PwD sub-category cutoffs (VI, HI, LM, OD&AO, each under UR/OBC/EWS/SC/ST) are also published by NTA in the official PDF for candidates who need them.

Note: Cutoff for English, Commerce, and Sociology is pending the 9–10 September 2026 re-examination and will be added once NTA releases it.

Humanities & Social Sciences

Sciences, Computer Applications & Applied Fields

Language & Literature Subjects

Foreign Languages

 All figures are official NTA cutoff marks (out of 300) for UGC NET June 2026. UR = Unreserved. "—" means no candidate qualified/appeared in that cell. For the complete list of all 84 subjects, PwD sub-category cutoffs, and candidate counts, refer to the official cutoff PDF on ugcnet.nta.nic.in.

Why Is the UGC NET Cutoff Different for Every Subject?

Candidates often ask why, say, Persian has a UR cutoff of 254 for PhD Only while Chinese has just 158. This comes down to:

• Candidate volume — subjects with very few test-takers (like Chinese, Konkani, or Manipuri) have a small, less competitive pool, so a single strong performer can set the cutoff.

• Relative difficulty and syllabus depth — Paper 2 for each subject is designed and evaluated independently.

• Reservation-based seat distribution — the percentage of category-wise quota candidates influences the category cutoff for that subject.

This is exactly why comparing your score against the cutoff of your own subject and category — not a friend's subject — is the only reliable way to check qualification status.

How to Check Your UGC NET 2026 Qualification Status

1. Visit the official website: ugcnet.nta.nic.in

2. Open the UGC NET June 2026 Result / Scorecard link.

3. Log in using Application Number and Date of Birth/Password.

4. Note your subject, category, and final score.

5. Cross-check your score against the subject-and-category cutoff in the official cutoff PDF (or the tables above).

6. Download and save your scorecard for future academic and recruitment use.

What Happens After Qualifying UGC NET 2026?

• Assistant Professor qualified candidates become eligible to apply for teaching posts in universities/colleges as per individual institution recruitment norms.

• JRF qualified candidates become eligible for a research fellowship (subject to enrolment in a PhD/research programme within the validity period) and are also automatically Assistant Professor–eligible.

• PhD Only qualified candidates can use the qualification only for PhD admission, as per each university's admission criteria.

• NTA issues an e-certificate; no physical certificate is dispatched. It is advisable to download and preserve the scorecard, since it is required at multiple stages of academic and recruitment verification.