The National Medical Commission (NMC) has made officially public the “Teachers Eligibility Qualifications in Medical Institutions Regulations, 2025,” which introduces new norms for teachers’ appointment in medical institutions in India. The finalized guidelines effective from the date of publication itself were drafted after careful consideration of objections, feedback, and suggestions received by concerned stakeholders on a public notice circulated in January 2025.

The broad-ranging regulations encompass experience, study, and academic qualifications for both medical and non-medical teaching faculty. The action is a major revamp in the regulation of hiring faculty and administrative positions within the nation’s system of medical education.

An important new provision in the notified rules is that any MBBS graduate is now deemed to be eligible for the post of a Tutor in a medical college. The provision of recruitment at the entry level and increasing opportunities for MBBS graduates to gain academic experience.

The rules also lay down a specific guideline for faculty members wanting to occupy administrative positions like Dean, Director, Principal, or Medical Superintendent. A minimum of ten years of teaching experience in a medical institution is needed for such appointments, at least five of them as Professor. The administrative positions will be made on a “seniority-cum-merit” basis, which will consider experience and talent.

But one such faculty member working in an administrative capacity will not be permitted to serve as the head of a department at the same time. The rules also state that only those faculty members possessing specified qualifications mentioned in the Schedule of the notification shall be appointed as Heads of Departments (HODs) of their area of expertise.

Aside from this, one very important age-related stipulation is that no faculty member will be permitted to continue holding teaching posts beyond the age of 70 years. This establishes an unambiguous retirement age in medical academia.

One of the most stringent changes is the recognition and equivalence of Diplomate of National Board (DNB) certification. DNB qualifications in broad and super specialties from institutions with 500-bed hospitals and above will be equivalent to respective academic qualifications. The candidates with a DNB qualification from institutions with less than 500 beds need to undertake an additional one-year senior residency from a good medical institute to become eligible for the post of teacher. This move synchronizes DNB qualifications with conventional postgraduate qualifications and attempts to even out the qualifications environment in medical training.

For non-medical staff, eligibility conditions are also specified. A candidate with an MSc in the same medical subject and a PhD in the same area is eligible to be recruited as a Demonstrator—if the qualifications were gained from a conventional, on-campus course of a recognized medical school.

Surprisingly, NMC regulations also provide an opportunity for Indian medical graduates with foreign postgraduate degrees to be recruited as Assistant Professors or Senior Residents in Indian medical institutions. Indian MBBS graduates who have pursued their postgraduate studies in English-speaking nations like the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand may now be recruited in Indian institutions on certain conditions.

For those from the UK, the requirements include completion of a Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCST) or equivalent, and terminal Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons or Physicians, and UK registration to practice the specialty.

For US or Canadian trained candidates, the eligibility requirement is the holding of a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree and a Residency Training Certificate. For super specialties, candidates must have done a residency course and an accredited fellowship in the concerned super specialty.

Australian and New Zealand-trained candidates should have completed supervised training to achieve a Fellowship of the concerned Royal College (Physicians or Surgeons). In super specialties, they should have completed supervised subspecialty fellowship for at least two years.

Still another provision gives leeway to foreign-trained applicants. If an applicant has one year of experience in teaching and is registered for practice in the participating foreign country, he or she can be exempted from otherwise required one year of Senior Residency in India.

The release of such eligibility criteria is bound to have long-term implications in the homogenization of educational qualifications, leading to standardization among institutions and bringing the world on the same page. As the medical education system matures, the new regulation by the NMC is a sincere attempt to bring about modernization in the faculty appointment and academic organization along the lines of national and international best practices.