The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will now recruit assistant professors and put them on a tenure track system to evaluate the performance.
The recruitment proposal, which has been cleared by the IIT council, will entail periodic reviews of the newly recruited ones and removal from service for under-performance.
The faculty can be hired as an “Assistant Professor (Tenure Track)” without the mandatory post PhD experience requirement for hiring but the performance will be reviewed by a panel.
The tenure of the faculty can be reviewed after 5.5 years from the date of joining, by an external committee. Depending upon the evaluation on research, teaching and service to the institute, he/she can be taken up to the higher level (Associate Professor) or asked to leave.
In few cases, the external committee can also provide a two-year extension before another review.
An IIT Bombay teacher told a news outlet said that American Universities followed the Tenure Track system, which encourages teachers to pursue research seriously since they are likely to be judged on the basis of their research output at the end of their tenure.
It has been observed that despite having good credentials, a large number of faculty do not put in enough effort into research and teaching and there has been an increase in the number of such faculty over the last few years.
The 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) has a provision that says “Institute should put in place a process for discontinuation of non-performers”.
“Currently, the faculty is appointed as an ‘Assistant Professor Grade-l if the candidate has three years of post-PhD experience. They are put on one-year probation after which they are almost always confirmed without critical evaluation,” a source to The Hindu.
Under the Tenure Track system though, they will be safe for five and half years before facing a sterner test by external reviewers.
The tenure track will not apply to the existing Assistant Professors.
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