New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has threatened action against universities if they fail to fill up the vacant teaching posts at the earliest.
In a communication sent to the vice-chancellors on Tuesday, the commission referred to its earlier letters about the need to hasten the recruitment drive and said that the varsities need to update the status on a UGC monitoring portal on or before November 10, 2019.
“Delay in filling up the vacant positions of the faculty will be viewed seriously and may lead to appropriate action by the UGC against such institutions,” the communication said.
It said that the shortage of quality teaching faculty in higher education institutions is a major concern and requires to be addressed immediately for improving the quality of higher education.
The communication asked the universities to adhere to the UGC guidelines for faculty recruitment.
The vacancies:
According to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, around 28 per cent of the faculty positions in the state universities and colleges across the country are lying vacant as of now.
Out of the 2.46 lakh faculty positions, only about 1.79 positions are currently filled up.
At a meeting with the state governors last month, the ministry had urged them to take up the issue with the respective state governments.
The central universities, on the other hand, are undertaking a massive recruitment drive to fill up more than 38,000 teaching posts. The Recruitment process is currently underway.