Can recruitment board resolve current talent crisis in State varsities?

Hyderabad: Divergent views are emerging among senior and retired faculty of the State universities (SUs) on the government's proposed common recruitment board for appointing teaching and non-teaching faculty.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior professor from the faculty of sciences of Osmania University said the issue of appointments in SUs has become complicated.

He found fault for this with successive State governments from united Andhra Pradesh. "They are solely responsible for the current crisis in higher education in Telangana".

Additionally, the highhandedness with which the powers that be had acted in haste have miserably failed to foresee the serious consequences of depriving the universities of regular appointment of teaching faculty for years. This was followed by some court cases causing litigation and further delay in regular appointments.

A faculty member from Kakaitya University pointed out that few appointments were made here and there. Otherwise after 75 years of independence, nearly 15 to 20 years, in some cases more the State governments have deprived SUs run with full-fledged regular faculty.

"If the faculty is not appointed for five more years, it would be nearly one-fourth period in a century (25 years) that SUs did not have full-fledged faculty", said another senior professor from social sciences.

The lack of regular appointments for decades has left universities to get good talent for professors and senior professors. The dearth of talent left many to turn to seek political backing to land top posts in universities. Now the situation is so grave that mistakes committed by political bosses and bureaucracy for decades, and prolonged litigations in courts have left SUs to pay the price.

All this has caused loss to research and development capacity building in SUs for about two decades or more in different subject areas," said a former vice-chancellor of Telangana SU head in united AP.

Now those working for the past 15-20 years on contract as faculty wanted their services to be regularized. "About 50 percent or more are not even qualified to be appointed as teaching faculty at universities as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms, said a VC of TS SU. Can the common recruitment board address all these issues that have become an issue for discussion among present and former teaching faculty of SUs.