The National Medical Commission (NMC), through its Postgraduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB), has issued a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify provisions of the Medical Institutions (Qualifications of Faculty) Regulations, 2025. This guidance follows numerous requests from stakeholders seeking clear interpretations of the new faculty standards that became effective on June 30, 2025.
The clarifications provide specific details regarding counting experience during the transition period and eligibility for various consultant and non-teaching practitioners to be appointed as professors and assistant professors.
Eligibility and Experience for Faculty Appointment
The FAQs define the types of experience that will be counted toward faculty appointments, particularly for those transitioning during the initial phase:
- The regulations are applicable from their date of publication, June 30, 2025.
- To be counted for appointment during the transition period (as per Section 12 of the regulations), experience of a continuous three-year period must meet one of the following criteria:
- Full-time experience in an exclusive department or unit dedicated to the new specialty within an NMC-recognized medical college or teaching medical institution.
- Full-time experience in institutions of national importance having a separate department for the new specialty (e.g., AIIMS, PGIMER Chandigarh, NIMHANS, JIPMER, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute).
- Exclusive full-time experience in NBEMS-accredited medical institutes having a separate department for the new specialty.
Eligibility for Professor and Associate Professor
The clarifications outline pathways for consultants and experienced practitioners to join medical colleges:
A consultant/specialist of an NBEMS-accredited broad or super specialty department in a government institute running accredited postgraduate or super specialty teaching programs will be considered a Senior Consultant. This experience makes one eligible for a Professor position in an NMC-recognized medical college if they possess three years of postgraduate teaching experience after meeting the eligibility criteria for Senior Consultant/PG teacher.
A Registered Medical Practitioner (RMP) with a recognized postgraduate degree and 10 years of cumulative work experience in any government hospital of 220 beds after obtaining the PG degree is eligible to become an Associate Professor. This appointee must complete the basic course in medical education and basic course in biomedical research within two years of appointment.
An RMP with a recognized postgraduate degree and 2 years of cumulative work experience in any government hospital of 220 beds after obtaining the PG degree is eligible to become an Assistant Professor, even without the requirement of one year of experience as a Senior Resident in a medical college.
Specific Specialty Clarifications
The FAQs also address counting experience for faculty in certain multidisciplinary areas:
Faculty from General Surgery, Anaesthesia, Respiratory Medicine, Orthopaedics, or General Medicine can directly become Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor of Emergency Medicine based on their total teaching experience in their respective specialty. That experience in the previous department will also be counted for promotion to administrative posts.
A total of four years’ experience in an NMC-recognized teaching medical college/institute will be considered for a diploma holder appointed as a Senior Resident before June 8, 2017, to be eligible for Assistant Professor.
Any faculty with a super specialty qualification serving in a recognized medical institution in a broad specialty department is eligible to be a faculty member of equivalent cadre in the concerned super specialty department.