CU Karnataka Ph.D. Admissions 2025-26 Open; Apply by October 24

Central University of Karnataka (CU Karnataka) has officially announced rolling admissions for its PhD programmes in Science and Engineering for the academic year 2025-26. Interested candidates can register online until October 24, 2025, and interviews will be held from October 31 to November 4, 2025.

All candidates must complete their PhD registration through the online SAMARTH registration portal cukadm.samarth.edu.in. Submission of the online registration form is mandatory, and applicants are advised to refer to the user manual on the portal for step-by-step guidance.

Candidates are required to pay a non-refundable registration fee at the time of online submission. The fee structure is as follows: Rs. 500 for General, OBC (Non-creamy layer), and EWS categories, and Rs. 100 for SC, ST, and PwD candidates. Transaction charges are additional.

CU Karnataka Ph.D. Admission Dates 2025-26

The tentative schedule for registration, declaration of eligible candidates, interview dates, and admission is as follows:

CU Karnataka Ph.D. Eligibility 2025-26

Candidates eligible to apply for PhD programmes in Science and Engineering at CU Karnataka include:

• Candidates who have qualified for national level examinations [such as JRF (UGC/CSIR /DBT/ ICMR), NET (UGC / CSIR), GATE or equivalent, etc.].
• Candidates who have qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) under PhD only (Category-3).
• Candidates who have secured a DST-INSPIRE Fellowship.
• Candidates with Central Government and State Government-sponsored fellowships
• National/State-level Teacher fellowship holders.
• Candidates admitted under various research projects (Fulfilling any of the above points-(i) to (v)).

CU Karnataka Ph.D. Selection Process 2025-26

The selection process at CU Karnataka for PhD programmes is divided into two main parts. 70% weightage is given to academic qualifications and departmental assessments, while 30% weightage is for online presentations and viva-voce.

Under the 70% component, candidates are evaluated based on their prior qualifications and performance. This includes JRF (UGC/CSIR/DBT, etc.) for up to 50 marks, DST-INSPIRE or other fellowships for 45 marks, NET (UGC/CSIR), NET-Ph.D only, and GATE for 40 marks, marks obtained in PG programmes (≥80%: 10 marks, 60–79%: 8 marks, 55–59%: 6 marks), and an online written test conducted before the interview for 10 marks.

The remaining 30% comes from an online presentation on the proposed research topic (10 marks) and an online viva-voce to assess the candidate’s knowledge in their domain (20 marks). To be considered for admission, candidates must secure a minimum of 50% combined marks (45% for SC, ST, OBC Non-creamy layer, and EWS). Those meeting the cutoff will be considered in the merit list for final selection.

Also Read:

• CU Karnataka PhD: Fees 2025, Course Duration, Dates, Eligibility
• IIT Roorkee Begins PhD Admissions 2025-26; Apply by October 31