WII-NET 2015 Notification (Application Invited for Wildlife Institute of India’s National Eligibility Test 2015 for NET and PhD in Wildlife)








Applications are invited from eligible interested candidates for the online national level test for the selection of Wildlife Institute of India’s National Eligibility Test (WII-NET) 2015 for the award of Junior Research Fellowship and Ph.D. Entrance Test of Saurashtra University (An Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Govt. of India) in the discipline of Wildlife Science.

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is a premier national institute for training and research in the field of wildlife conservation and management. The Institute’s idyllic ambience, state of the art infrastructure, scientific faculty of repute and diverse professionals provide a vibrant academic atmosphere for scholarly work. The WII has been constantly engaging research personnel for its various research activities and also encourages research scholars all over the country to pursue their career in the field of ‘Wildlife Science’ by providing a platform to register for Ph.D. Program of Saurashtra University, Rajkot. In this regard, the Institute intends to conduct an `online’ National Eligibility Test (WII-NET), 2015, for the award of Junior Research Fellowship at WII and Ph.D. Entrance Test for registration in the Ph.D. Program of Saurashtra University, Rajkot, in the discipline of Wildlife Science on Sunday, 13th September 2015.



I. Eligibility Criteria:

(A). For National Eligibility Test of Wildlife Institute of India (WII-NET), 2015 for the award of Junior Research Fellowship: Masters’ Degree in Botany/ Zoology/ Forestry/ Statistics/ Life Science/ Experimental Biology/ Biotechnology/ Molecular Biology/ Climate Change/ Environment Science/ Environment Management/Geo-informatics/Biological Science/ Wildlife Science or M.V.Sc. or M.Sc. Agriculture or M.A. (Sociology/ Economics/ Mass Communication/ Anthropology and Psychology) with minimum of 60% aggregate marks.




Age Limit: Age shall not be more than 28 years of age as on 19.08.2015.

Upper age limit is relaxed up to 5 years for candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC-Non Creamy Layer (NCL)/Women/ Physically Challenged applicants.

Validity Period: The validity of WII–NET will be for a period of two years from the date of declaration of results.

(B). Application for Ph.D. Entrance Test, 2015 of Saurashtra University in the discipline of Wildlife Science:

Masters’ Degree in Life Science (Botany/ Zoology/ Forestry/ Statistics/ Experimental Biology/ Environmental Science/ Biological Science/ Wildlife Science/ Agriculture/ M.V.Sc.) with 55% aggregate and above and 5% relaxation in marks for the candidates belonging to the SC/ST and OBC category. Candidate appearing in the final examination of the Post Graduate Degree, shall also be eligible to apply for the Entrance Test, but their Entrance Test result will be validated only after their final Post Graduate Degree Examination Result in the same academic term/semester. Qualified candidates of UGC/CSIR (JRF) Examination/SLET/NET/GATE or who are the teacher fellowship holders/M.Phil. Degree holders shall be exempted from the Entrance Test for Ph.D. However, they would be required to go through the process of Research Degree Committee (RDC) of Saurashtra University for seeking registration in the Ph.D. Program.

Age Limit: No age limit for Ph.D. Entrance Test, 2015 of Saurashtra University in the discipline of Wildlife Science.

Validity Period: The time limit of validity period is not applicable in case of Ph.D. Entrance Test of Saurashtra University.

II. PROCEDURE FOR APPLYING:

The candidates are required to apply online. The relevant link for registration will be made available from 20th July 2015. Online submission of application will be allowed on the website up to 23.59 hrs. on 19th August 2015.

Interested applicants, may refer institute’s website for details of instructions i.e. eligibility criteria, age limit, validity period, syllabus and examination centre(s) etc. No other mean/mode of application shall be accepted. Candidates are required to go to the link provided for filling ONLINE application and fill up the personal details/BIO-DATA, fees, examination centre etc. carefully. Before filling application online, candidates should keep ready a scanned copy of passport size photograph and signature in jpg/jpeg format (Photo size less than 500 KB and signature size less than 200 KB). Fill in the online form with all the relevant details. Upload scanned copy of the photograph and signature. Candidates should ensure that the relevant details viz. Name, Date of Birth, Address, etc. entered in application form should be correct. Downloading of admit card will start from 5th September 2015. The date of examination is 13.09.2015 at 11.00 hrs. The candidates are requested to report at the examination centre at 10.00 hrs. positively.

III. GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:

(1). Computer based (ONLINE) examination for WII-NET or Ph. D entrance test of Saurashtra University or both the above will be held on 13.09.2015 in 10 centres across India.

(2). The duration of the WII-NET and the Ph.D. entrance test of Saurashtra University will be 120 minutes. The question paper contains only ‘Multiple Choice Questions’ carrying equal marks. These questions are objective in nature with four answers each, out of which candidate has to choose the correct answer. There will be negative marking for wrong answer to the extent of one-fourth (1/4) of the marks allotted to the question.

(3). Candidates applying for WII-NET or Ph.D entrance test of Saurashtra University or both the above should apply separately for each. Mere issue of e-Call Letter to candidates will NOT imply that their candidature has been finally accepted by the Institute.

(4). Fee, once paid, will not be refunded under any circumstances. Candidates should satisfy themselves that they fulfil all the eligibility norms including educational qualification(s) as on date of submission of the application. Those who are awaiting results of the final semester examination of Master’s degree, NEED NOT apply for WII-NET. However, they can apply for Ph. D entrance test of Saurashtra University

(5). Candidates are advised to give specific, correct and complete information. All original certificates/documents in support of information furnished in the application form are to be produced at the time of interview at Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, failing which the candidate will be disqualified for appearing in interview. Candidature of the candidates is liable to be rejected at any stage of admission process or after admission, if any information provided by the candidates is found to be false or is not found in conformity with eligibility criteria mentioned in the advertisement.

(6). For getting the benefit of reservation under OBC category, the name of caste and community of the candidate must appear in the central list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) available on National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), Government of India website www.ncbc.nic.in. The candidate must not belong to creamy layer. Candidates seeking reservation as OBC, will have to submit at the time of interview, caste certificate, ONLY in the prescribed format issued from the designated authority indicating clearly the candidates caste, the Act/Order under which the caste is recognised as OBC and the Village/Town the candidates is ordinarily resident of. The OBC candidates must ensure that they possess the latest Non-Creamy layer certificate issued by designated authority. A certificate containing any variation in the caste name will not be accepted.

(7). Mobile phones, pagers, calculators or any other communication devices are not allowed inside the premises where the examination is being conducted. Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future examination conducted by the Institute. Candidates are advised in their own interest not to bring any of the banned items including mobile phones/pagers to the venue of the examination, as arrangement for safe-keeping cannot be assured.

IV. PAYMENT OF APPLICATION FEE

  1. For National Eligibility Test of Wildlife Institute of India (WII-NET) for the award of Junior Research Fellowship at WII: Applicants/candidates are required to pay a non-refundable amount of Rs. 1500/-.
  2. For Ph.D. Entrance Test, 2015 of Saurashtra University in the discipline of Wildlife Science: Applicants/candidates who opts for only Ph.D entrance test are required to pay a non-refundable amount of Rs. 1500/-.
  3. For Both (WII-NET and Ph.D. Entrance Test, 2015 of Saurashtra University): Applicants/candidates are required to pay a non-refundable amount of Rs. 3000/- Candidates are required to make application fee payment through debit card/credit card/net-banking (service charges apply for all banks will be borne by the candidates). The candidates will be automatically/redirected to make online payment (wherever fee is applicable) once the form is successfully completed. No other mode of payment will be accepted. Application fee once paid will not be refunded under any circumstances. Candidates are therefore requested to verify their eligibility before payment of application fee.

V. Examination Centre(s):

1. New Delhi 2. Bengaluru 3. Hyderabad 4. Mumbai 5. Jammu 6. Kolkata 7. Lucknow 8. Bhopal 9. Guwahati 10. Dehradun

VI Syllabus for WII-NET/Ph.D. Entrance Test

WII–NET Paper would contain only ‘Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)’ carrying equal marks. These questions shall be objective in nature and each will have four answers, out of which the candidate has to mark the correct answer. There will be negative marking for wrong answer to the extent of one-forth (1/4) of the marks allotted to the question. The duration of the WII-NET is three hours. Subject-wise components are given below for reference:

WII NET 2015 syllabus

Component 1: English Language

Reading Comprehension (Answers of MCQs on the basis of comprehension of a passage), Vocabulary (Synonyms, Antonyms, One word for a phrase, Phrase for one word), Basic Grammar (Structure of Language), Improvement of the sentences.

Component 2: Computer Awareness

Computer Fundamentals, MS Office Tools

Component 3: General Aptitude

Critical reasoning and verbal deduction, Numerical computation, numerical estimation, numerical reasoning and data interpretation

Component4: Research Methodology:

Problems and research questions; research and statistical hypotheses; approach and designing research projects; rapid assessment techniques and questionnaire survey. Random and systematic sampling design; experimental design and hypothesis testing. Stratified sampling design; Use of Remote Sensing and GIS Technology

Recognition of data types: continuous, rank and nominal data. Exploratory analysis; Central tendency, Statistical variance and Population variance; Sub-sampling techniques; Boot-strap and Jack-knife estimator; Probability distributions: normal, binomial, Poisson, t-distributions and Chisquare distributions. Concept of derivatives and slope of a function; Permutations and combinations; Basic probability (probability of random events; sequences of events, etc); Frequency distributions and their descriptive statistics (mean, variance, coefficient of variation, correlation, etc). Statistical hypothesis testing: Concept of p-value; Type I and Type II error, test statistics like t-test and Chi-square test; Basics of linear regression and ANOVA. Bayesian concept and analysis. Correlation and regression analysis; Test of homogeneity and analysis of variance.

Component 5: Subject Knowledge (Wildlife Science)

  1. Vegetation Science: Relationship between environmental factors and vegetation types; structural and physiognomic classification of vegetation; Forest Types of India: Champion & Seth’s classification; theories and stages of plant succession. Alien invasive plants; aquatic vegetation and its classification; Vegetation quantification and mapping; Biomass estimation. Plant-animal interaction, Economic Botany, Major plant products and Non-timber forest products in India. Plant adaptations to different climatic conditions.
  2. Animal Systematics: Major classes of vertebrates and invertebrates: Characteristic features and examples; Economic importance of invertebrates, their adaptation and role as indicators for biodiversity monitoring; Origin and radiation in Birds and Mammals. Zoo-geography, distribution of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals; biology of rare, threatened and endangered mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish species of India. Bird migration.
  3. Ecology: Population ecology; meta-population dynamics; growth rates; density independent growth; density dependent growth; niche concept; Species interactions: Plant-animal interactions; mutualism, commensalism, competition and predation; trophic interactions; functional ecology; eco-physiology; behavioural ecology.
  4. Community ecology: Community assembly, organization and evolution; biodiversity: species richness, evenness and diversity indices; endemism; species-area relationships; Ecosystem structure, function and services; nutrient cycles; biomes; habitat ecology; primary and secondary productivity; invasive species; global and climate change; applied ecology.
  5. Evolution: Origin, evolution and diversification of life; natural selection; levels of selection. Types of selection (stabilizing, directional etc.); sexual selection; genetic drift; gene flow; adaptation; convergence; species concepts; Life history strategies; adaptive radiation; biogeography and evolutionary ecology; Origin of genetic variation; Mendelian genetics; polygenic traits, linkage and recombination; epistasis, gene-environment interaction; heritability; population genetics; Molecular evolution; molecular clocks; systems of classification: cladistics and phenetics; molecular systematics; gene expression and evolution.
  6. Behavioral Ecology: Classical ethology; neuroethology; evolutionary ethology; chemical, acoustic and visual signaling; Mating systems; sexual dimorphism; mate choice; parenting behaviour Competition; aggression; foraging behaviour; predator–prey interactions; Sociobiology: kin selection, altruism, costs and benefits of group-living.
  7. Conservation Laws, Policies and Management: National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves, Community Reserves, Biosphere Reserves in India: National Wildlife Conservation Policy and Action Plans. Forest (Conservation) Act; Wildlife (Protection) Act; Environment (Protection) Act; Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act; National Conservation Authorities (National Biodiversity Authority and National Tiger Conservation Authority), and International Conventions viz., RAMSAR Convention, Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Migratory Species. Eco-sensitive Zones, Wetlands of National Importance, Project Elephant, Project Snow Leopard, Important Bird Areas, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity, Forestry and Forest Management in India.
  8. Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conservation, Conservation Strategies/ Approaches: Community Participation, Traditional Resource Dependence, Socio-economic Situation, Sustainable Livelihood, Vulnerability, Community Forests, Protected Area-People Interface, Micro-planning, Eco-development and Eco-development Committees, Biodiversity Management Committees, Participatory Rural Appraisal, Livestock-Wildlife Interaction, Human-Wildlife Conflicts and Mitigation.

Model Question Paper (WII-NET) 2015

Online Registration for National Eligibility Test WII-NET & Ph.D. Entrance Test

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