About 40% of university faculty posts vacant

Close to 40% of faculty positions in the country's higher education institutions are vacant. Experts say that while central institutions and institutes of national importance had a better student to faculty ratio, state public universities took the brunt of the shortage, reports TNN.

B Venkatesh Kumar, professor and chairperson, Centre for Public Policy and Governance, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, said there are two reasons for the lack of good faculty. “The state governments are not willing to fill existing vacancies because it will add to their financial burden,” he said. “The second reason is that most universities are unable to find good quality teachers.”

Kumar was making a presentation at the south zone vice-chancellors’ conference at Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, and was assessing the country's successive educational policies. "Most state governments spend 97% of the non-plan expenditure on salaries. Hence, the scope of recruiting new faculty to compensate for the rising student numbers is less. With 96% of the student population studying in state universities, the lack of faculty raises major concerns."
Full report on The Times of India site