Lok Sabha Question No. 2325 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-18
Subject: UGC Rule to Hire Entry-Level Professors
Ministry: Education
Asked by: P. Velusamy, S.R. Parthiban

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2325

ANSWERED ON- 18/12/2023

## UGC RULE TO HIRE ENTRY-LEVEL PROFESSORS

## 2325   SHRI VELUSAMY P.: SHRI PARTHIBAN S.R.:

- Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has any rationale for changing the UGC's rule to hire entry-level Professors and making a Ph.D degree optional for Assistant Professors; (b) if so, the details thereof and the basis of such justification; (c) whether Government has compared the international standards and practices for faculty recruitment in Higher Educational institutions; (d) if so, the details thereof and how India fares in comparison with other countries; and (e)  whether  the  Government  has  any  vision  to  improve  the  quality  and  ranking  of
- Indian higher educational institutions at the global level?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

(a)  &  (b):  The  University  Grants  Commission  (UGC)  (Minimum  Qualifications  for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018  stipulates  the  Ph.D  degree  shall  be  a  mandatory  qualification  for  direct recruitment  to  the  post  of  Assistant  Professor  in  Universities  with  effect  from 01.07.2021. The said provision has been waived off by UGC, vide UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and  Colleges  and  other  Measures  for  the  Maintenance  of  Standards  in  Higher Education) (2 nd  Amendment) Regulations, 2023 with a view to attract young talent in teaching profession and to give more autonomy and flexibility to the Universities to decide the shortlisting criteria to appoint the best suitable candidate.

(c)  &  (d):  The  best  universities  in  the  world  rarely  follow  rigid  rules  for  recruiting teachers.    They  always  focus  on  recruiting  the  best  candidate.    Within  India  also, IITs, depending on the discipline, appoint an entry-level assistant professor without a Ph.D.  In  their  advertisements,  IITs  also  mention  that  minimum  qualification  and experience requirements may be relaxed for exceptionally outstanding candidates.

(e):  UGC  has  brought  out  Guidelines  for  the  establishment  of  Research  and Development  Cell  (RDC)  in  universities  and  colleges,  to  create  a  conducive environment  for  enhanced  research  productivity,  encourage  collaboration  across industry,  government,  community-based  organizations,  and  agencies  at  the  local, national,  and  international  levels  and  facilitate  greater  access  to  research  through the  mobilisation  of  resources  and  funding.  It  also  aims  to  help  universities  and colleges create new knowledge, build a research ecosystem for reliable, impactful, and sustained research output and facilitate intellectual growth that would promote quality research. Presently, more than 1500 RDC have been established in Higher Educational Institutions across the country.

Further,  UGC  launched  the  Guidelines  for  Higher  Education  Institutions  to  offer Internship  /  Apprenticeship  Embedded  Degree  Programme  in  the  year  2020,  to embed  apprenticeship/internship into the degree programme  to improve the employability of students.

Apart  from  above,  in  order  to  enable  HEIs  to  engage  industry  experts  and professionals as guest faculty in HEIs to share the wealth of knowledge gained over their  long  careers  with  students,  the  UGC  has  developed  Guidelines  for  engaging Professors of Practice in universities and colleges. Universities and Colleges have been  requested  to  take  the  necessary  steps  to  engage  Professors  of  Practice according to the requirement and by following the published guidelines.

UGC  has  also  drafted  Guidelines  on  Sustainable  and  Vibrant  University-Industry Linkage  System  for  Indian  Universities  with  objective  to  promote  Research  & Development Thrust through University-Industry (UI) collaboration in the University to address practical R&D problems of high societal relevance by engaging the faculty and  students.  It  also  aims  to  create  training  opportunities  and  apprenticeship opportunities in the industries/ R&D labs/ Research organizations/ other organizations including social organizations across the country.

Moreover, Ministry of Education has conducted a series of workshops for prospective  institutes  to  participate  in  international  ranking  and  also  conducted workshops with industries associations to encourage them to participate in employer reputation  survey  which  plays  an  important  role  in  international  ranking.  Further, capacity building sessions were also conducted with the ranking organization itself to align HEI's with their parameters.

In addition to above, following initiatives have also been taken:

- i. UGC  notified  the  University  Grants  Commission  (Academic  Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Higher Educational Institutions to offer Twinning, Joint Degree and Dual Degree Programmes) Regulations on 02.05.2022.
- ii. To facilitate  the  entry  of  the  foreign  higher  educational  institution  into  India, UGC has notified University Grants Commission (Setting up and Operation of Campuses  of  Foreign  Higher  Educational  Institutions  in  India)  Regulations, 2023 on 07.11.2023.
- iii. Towards implementing the vision of multidisciplinary education, the University Grants Commission issued the "Guidelines for Transforming Higher Education Institutions into Multidisciplinary Institutions' on 02.09.2022.

As a result of all these initiatives, the Indian Higher Education Institutions ranked in 'QS World University Ranking' has increased from 9 in the World University Ranking (WUR) 2014 to 45 in WUR 2024, the number of Indian Higher Education Institutions has also increased from 49 in 2019 to 91 in 2024 in Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings and India remains the most represented Higher Education  system  with  148  universities  out  of  856  featured  in  the  QS  World University-  Asia  Ranking  2024 and has also contributed the highest number of 37 new entrants. Further, as per the Elsevier Report, the total number of publications has also increased from 6,61,912 in (2012-2016) to 10,12,624 in (2017-2021).

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