Nearly 42% faculty positions in IITs lying vacant

Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, said, in the 16 Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), nearly 42% faculty positing are lying vacant. Further elaborating more on this topic, he said, almost half of faculty positions in the National Institute of Technology (NITs) are going vacant. He also said that to meet the current requirement of shortage, these institutes are hiring new faculty members on contract and as visiting faculty.

He also mentioned that the main reason behind this acute shortage is minimum qualification for faculty recruitment is having a Ph.D degree, which discourages many candidates to pursue this profession. Besides, many students after completion of their B.Tech/M.Tech programmes get placements in companies and do not choose teaching as profession. Presently, there are 16 IITs and 30 NITs in the country.

The IITs applying suitable strategies to attract and retain quality faculty members. He said, “To achieve this, IITs will do year-round open advertisements, holding of selection committee meetings through video conferencing, invitation to alumni, scientists, faculty from India and abroad to reach out to potential candidates, advertisements in international journals to attract the attention of professionals abroad, and introducing young faculty award, etc.”

The government has also taken decision to allow faculty working under Central Government or Central Autonomous Bodies to join the newly established Central Education Institutes on long-term deputation for almost a period of 10 years.

The institutes also got approval to hire Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin to permanent faculty position.