43 Indian central university The faculty has 6,549 vacancies. it was said by Ministry of Education (MoE) in a written reply in Lok Sabha to a question by MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy. In another written response Rajya Sabha Responding to a question by MP AA Rahim, the MoE has said that 3,669 reserved category teaching posts are vacant in central universities.
While the recruitment process is going on in most of the universities, limited applicants for some specific subjects are affecting the process.
Many Cases
In Delhi University (DU), which has maximum number of vacant faculty positions as per MoE response, faculty recruitment is being done at various levels. DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh says, “Faculty recruitment is a time-consuming and lengthy process. Though all the vacancies are ordered to be filled soon, but we cannot compromise on the quality of the candidates.
Also, while the central government has amended the UGC norms, making PhD mandatory minimum eligibility criteria for assistant professors, there are some applicants who are currently pursuing PhD, says Singh. “These applicants miss the mark even when their candidacy is weighed against those who have already completed their PhD in terms of experience,” he says.
BJ Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad (UoH) says that in two rounds of recruitment in the last one year, there was not a single applicant who is currently pursuing PhD. “There seems to be a lack of awareness about the amendments in the UGC recruitment norms. Thus, it has not made much difference to the available talent pool,” he says.
Rao says many vacant faculty positions are in niche subject areas that get minimal applicants. “UGC norms specify that experts in specific disciplines should be hired. While experts in core subjects are available, sometimes there are minimal to zero applicants for niche areas. We faced this issue in our second round of recruitment which was conducted exclusively for reserved category vacancies. ,
Legal petitions filed by candidates also cause delay in hiring candidates. “In some cases, candidates raise legal objections on negligence in following the UGC recruitment norms. Universities need to advertise vacancies. UoH has already sent an application to unlock our respective posts,” says Rao.
present situation
DU registrar Vikas Gupta says, “Faculty hiring is done for the posts of assistant professor, associate professor and professor. While university departments are hiring for faculty separately, the colleges under the purview of DU are conducting their hiring process independently. In the last few months, about 40% of the 52 available assistant professor positions in university departments like Zoology, Botany, ElectronicsAnd biophysics are full, he says.
Efforts are on to fill the remaining posts. Also, the screening process of applications for the posts of Associate Professors is on,” says Gupta.
Rao says, “UoH released an advertisement for 52 backlog reserved vacancies on October 25, 2021 and out of these 15 posts were filled. Altogether 157 faculty posts including Professor (45), Associate Professor (61) and Assistant Professor (51) are still vacant. Out of these, 37 backlog are reserved posts.
While the recruitment process is going on in most of the universities, limited applicants for some specific subjects are affecting the process.
Many Cases
In Delhi University (DU), which has maximum number of vacant faculty positions as per MoE response, faculty recruitment is being done at various levels. DU Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh says, “Faculty recruitment is a time-consuming and lengthy process. Though all the vacancies are ordered to be filled soon, but we cannot compromise on the quality of the candidates.
Also, while the central government has amended the UGC norms, making PhD mandatory minimum eligibility criteria for assistant professors, there are some applicants who are currently pursuing PhD, says Singh. “These applicants miss the mark even when their candidacy is weighed against those who have already completed their PhD in terms of experience,” he says.
BJ Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad (UoH) says that in two rounds of recruitment in the last one year, there was not a single applicant who is currently pursuing PhD. “There seems to be a lack of awareness about the amendments in the UGC recruitment norms. Thus, it has not made much difference to the available talent pool,” he says.
Rao says many vacant faculty positions are in niche subject areas that get minimal applicants. “UGC norms specify that experts in specific disciplines should be hired. While experts in core subjects are available, sometimes there are minimal to zero applicants for niche areas. We faced this issue in our second round of recruitment which was conducted exclusively for reserved category vacancies. ,
Legal petitions filed by candidates also cause delay in hiring candidates. “In some cases, candidates raise legal objections on negligence in following the UGC recruitment norms. Universities need to advertise vacancies. UoH has already sent an application to unlock our respective posts,” says Rao.
present situation
DU registrar Vikas Gupta says, “Faculty hiring is done for the posts of assistant professor, associate professor and professor. While university departments are hiring for faculty separately, the colleges under the purview of DU are conducting their hiring process independently. In the last few months, about 40% of the 52 available assistant professor positions in university departments like Zoology, Botany, ElectronicsAnd biophysics are full, he says.
Efforts are on to fill the remaining posts. Also, the screening process of applications for the posts of Associate Professors is on,” says Gupta.
Rao says, “UoH released an advertisement for 52 backlog reserved vacancies on October 25, 2021 and out of these 15 posts were filled. Altogether 157 faculty posts including Professor (45), Associate Professor (61) and Assistant Professor (51) are still vacant. Out of these, 37 backlog are reserved posts.