35 % of Faculty vacancies in Indian Higher Educational Institutions
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 26, 2015
Ask any who’s who of the country about their educational background. A majority of them would mention one of these names; IIT, IIM, IISC, NIT etc. The prestigious institutes of higher education in the country are facing a severe crunch of Faculty. The institutes of higher learning under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) face a faculty shortage to an extent of 35% according to the latest data available with the government.
(Data as available with Ministry of HRD as on 25th November, 2014. Data includes Visiting, Adjunct & Contract Faculty also)
Bleak Scenario
IITs top the list with 39% vacancies and Central Universities follow with 38% vacancies. One would assume that a large number of new institutions were setup in the last few years and that their faculty numbers might be contributing to this overall number. But this assumption is not supported by numbers. The new IITs face only a 22% shortage while the old IITs face a much greater 41% faculty crunch. Some of the oldest institutions like IIT Roorke, IIT BHU have more than half their faculty positions vacant. IIT Bhubaneshwar has a shortage of only 4%.
Out of IIMs, IIM Indore is facing a 52% shortage while IIM Ranchi is facing a 48% shortage. IIM Udaipur & IIM Raipur are the only two IIMs with no shortage of faculty. The older IIMs at Ahmedabad, Calcutta & Bangalore are also facing a severe shortage of faculty. IIM Ahmedabad is the worst hit with a 29% shortage.
Out of the NITs, 5 of them are facing a shortage of over 40%. NIT Delhi tops the list with 50% shortage of faculty. The NITs in Raipur, Uttarakhand & Meghalaya are each facing only an 8% shortage of faculty. In terms of the overall numbers, NITs seem to be better placed than the IITs with only a 29% shortage of faculty.
Out of all the institutes, the School of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) seem to be better placed in terms of faculty. They only have a shortage of 8%.
Even in the Central Universities, it is the old universities that are worst hit. Delhi University has a shortage of more than 50% closely followed by University of Allahabad.
Student/Faculty Ratio
In terms of Student/Faculty ratio, it is the IIMs that are doing best with one faculty for every 6 students. In the case of IITs, it is one faculty for every 16 students. IIITs have the worst ratio with one faculty for every 29 students. In NITs, there is one faculty for every 17 students.
Unless the government does something on a war footing, the situation is unlikely to change. It should incentivize bright minds to come back to education. It is a welcome sign that people like Manjul Bhargava are being involved in getting more scholars to teach in India.
Data Sources: