Telangana universities face 74% faculty vacancies
Telangana: Public universities in Telangana are steadily turning into degree-awarding centres, with a severe shortage of professors crippling teaching and research. Across 11 state universities, 74% of sanctioned teaching posts remain vacant, triggering concern among academics and students.
Seven universities have no professors
Of the 2,878 sanctioned teaching posts, only 753 regular faculty members are currently in service, leaving 2,125 posts vacant. The crisis is stark in seven universities Kakatiya University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Satavahana University, Palamuru University, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Dr B R Ambedkar Open University and Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies which do not have a single regular professor.
With no senior faculty to guide PhD scholars, research activities in these universities have virtually come to a halt. Of the 393 professor posts across the state, 219 remain vacant. Except at Osmania University, research output in other universities has been reduced to a formality, academics said.
Associate, assistant professor posts also vacant
The shortage extends beyond professors. Of the 913 sanctioned associate professor posts, 792 are vacant. Basar RGUKT and Satavahana University do not have even one associate professor. The situation is worse at the assistant professor level, where 1,114 of the 1,572 sanctioned posts are vacant.
At Osmania University alone, 470 assistant professor posts are unfilled, while Kakatiya University has 183 vacancies. RGUKT, with nearly 10,000 students, has just 19 regular faculty members against 146 sanctioned posts. Palamuru University has 19 faculty members for 136 posts, while Telugu University has only 13.
Recruitment stalled despite guidelines
Assistant professor recruitment was last carried out in 2013 in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. After Telangana’s formation, the then Bharat Rashtra Samithi government approved filling 1,061 posts in 2018, but the proposal remained pending.
After the Congress came to power, it announced university-wise recruitment and issued guidelines in April based on a report by a committee led by Professor Ghanta Chakrapani under the Telangana State Council of Higher Education. The guidelines proposed weightage of 50% for academic record and research, 30% for teaching skills and 20% for interviews. Despite this, recruitment has not moved forward and the process is currently stalled, officials said.
NAAC grades at risk
Vice-chancellors have repeatedly flagged the crisis in meetings with the government and the Higher Education Council. With no regular faculty, universities are depending heavily on contract, part-time and guest lecturers 720 at Osmania University, 417 at Kakatiya University and 381 at JNTU Hyderabad.
Academics warned that without regular faculty, securing National Assessment and Accreditation Council grades would be difficult. NAAC places heavy weightage on teaching-learning and research, and poor student-teacher ratios and lack of permanent PhD-qualified staff could lead to lower scores.
Student organisations also demanded immediate recruitment. “More than 75% of teaching posts are vacant. While central universities recruit regularly, state universities are neglected,” said ABVP Hyderabad city secretary Sridhar Teja. SFI state secretary T Nagaraju said PhD scholars were suffering due to the absence of guides and urged the government to fill vacancies without delay.
