India falling short of 3 Lakh professors - General news

Bangalore: The Union Government affirmed that the nation lacks professors and about 300,000 professors are needed in India's higher education system, reports Prashant K. Nanda from livemint.com.

The University Grand Commission (UGC) in association with vice chancellor and educationists drafted a report to tackle the issue. The Human Resource Fevelopment Ministry said in a statement, "The task force(committee) notes that more than 300,000 is the shortage of faculty in the system at present. It may be noticed that the establishment of a reliable database itself is a major hurdle in addition with the issue of faculty shortage."

According to the report, India needs 100,000 more teachers per year in the coming decade for its colleges. The government informed Parliament that it has allowed institutes to hire expatriate Indians to make up for any shortage in faculty.

The elite Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and the National Institute of Technology(NITs) face a shortage of 30-35 percent. Central Universities face at least 30 percent shortage, ministry said. 1,693 more teaching staff is required immediately at 15 IITs and 1,522 in NIITs. The ministry informed the Lok Shabha, "To tide over the faculty shortage, the IITs can appoint NRIs and PIOs to permanent faculty position. However, foreign national, appointed on contract basis for a fixed tenure of not exceeding five years."

With the government planning to create more space for the students in higher education and encourage private participation, the student-teacher gap will only increase if it's not addressed soon. The Centre has said it wants to add 25 million students to the current 15 million to the higher education as India's economy grows.

"The government is talking about setting up hundreds of colleges, but only buildings cannot better education. The government needs to rope in industry personnel; they may not have PHDs but have experience.", said Shobha Mishra, head of education wing at the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a lobby group.

The report by UGC, the country's university education regulator, notes administrative hindrances and delay are major impediments in creating a healthy strength of faculty members. It suggests hiring business faculties.

"The task force has also a novel scheme of inducting young men and women in academic profession while they are pursuing their academic career", the ministry said.