Hyderabad: In the 2016-2017 World Rankings, Osmania University secured the 800th rank whereas in 2018, it dropped to 801. Andhra University, which was also in the 800th spot last year, fell to 801 this year. Gitam University secured 1001+ rank in 2018. It is apparent that the rankings of Indian universities have steadily declined since the last few years.
In 2014, the highest rank an Indian university reached was 328, but in 2015 it was 341, in 2016 it dropped to 354 and in 2017 it was 397. National and international rankings were mostly based on research quality and output in terms of publications, citations and impact factors which mostly depended on the number of faculty, said Professor N. V. Ramana Rao, Director, NIT Warangal.
He added, “Shortage of faculty leads to more load on existing faculty for teaching and less time and effort for research. Vacant teaching positions are a grave concern for many of the higher educational institutions. Most of the vacancies are not filled because of legal hurdles or non-availability of good talent. Academic institutes compete with each other for talent funding.”
Professor Battu Satyanarayana, President, Osmania University Teachers Association (OUTA) said, “If the number of teachers decreases, then the quality of education and enrollment will come down. Lack of teachers in any university whether it’s Central or state universities also affects the global world rankings as well as national rankings.”
Professor Gopal Reddy, UGC Member said, “Lack of faculty affects everything including world rankings and quality of education. Whenever any ranking system framework is considered, they take all aspects into consideration but a major setback for our universities is faculty crunch. On one hand, the government wants more and more universities, but on the other, in some universities the government has not even appointed vice-chancellors and enough faculty, which is affecting everything.”
Many teaching posts go vacant at Central varsities
About 33 per cent teaching posts are lying vacant in Central Universities across the country and 50 per cent in state universities in Telangana. In Osmania University, 1,268 posts were sanctioned but still there are 768 posts vacant in the university. In Kakatiya University, 390 posts were sanctioned but there are 250 vacancies.
Professor Gopal Reddy, UGC Member said, “Since the last several years there has been no recruitment in undivided Andhra Pradesh. In 1990 was the last major recruitment in undivided Andhra Pradesh in the state universities including Osmania University. In 2007, again there were recruitments during which more than 100 teachers were posted and in 2013, another few posts were filled. Out of 1,264 posts in Osmania University, the current faculty strength is less than 40 per cent. Every year about 50 teachers retire in the state universities but there is no major recruitment in the state after 90s in undivided Andhra Pradesh.”
He added, “I have spoken to the chairman of the state council of higher education and also brought to the notice of the Telangana education minister that because of globalisation and other things they have totally stopped recruitments. Also newly established universities in TS and AP don’t have even 20 per cent teachers. The unfortunate thing is that students pursuing higher education in Telugu states lose out because of the lack of faculty. As per the current scenario, the recruitments may not happen before the elections but most of the OU professors will retire by 2019 and the university will face a severe crisis.”
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