Concept of SET/SLET

It was felt that an eligibility test at the national level may not be completely able to represent the subjects which are regional in their character. Moreover, the demand for enabling the candidates to appear for the Test in their own mother tongue was also being made. The state governments and union territories were, therefore, given the option of conducting their own Test for eligibility for Lectureship at the state level. Thus was born the concept of SET, i.e., State Eligibility Test for Lectureship Eligibility only. It is conducted both in English and the vernacular.
The Commission at its meeting held on 25 May 1990 decided to constitute a UGC Committee on Accreditation of Test (U-CAT). The terms of reference of U-CAT are as follows:
Laying down guidelines for holding the tests.
Laying down guidelines for holding the tests/CSIR.
Monitoring of tests conducted by other agencies and suggesting follow-up measures.
Extend guidance and help to State level agencies in the organization of the tests.
Based on the recommendations made by U-CAT, the following guidelines are given to the states regarding test design, course content, organization of the test etc. for conducting State Eligibility Test (SET) for Lectureship only.
In accordance with the mandate given by the Government of India, the University Grants Commission (UGC), on request of State Governments, proposed to have State Eligibility Test (SET) duly accredited by UGC for a fixed term. This state level Test is based on the pattern of the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by UGC and UGC/CSIR for Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences subjects respectively. The State Governments and Union Territories, which wish to conduct their own SET, are required to obtain accreditation from UGC from time to time.
Besides conducting the NET examination, the role of the NET Bureau is to assess and accredit state-identified agencies to conduct SET examination. The SET assessment is done by evaluating the performance of the state agency designated by the state government. The Certification of Accreditation is given to the state for a stipulated period of time.