Lok Sabha Question No. 3341 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-16
Subject: Shortage of Teachers in Higher and Technical Education Institutions
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Mani A

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3341 ANSWERED ON 16.12.2024

## Shortage of Teachers in Higher and Technical Education Institutions

3341. Shri Mani A:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the current teacher-student ratio in Higher and Technical Education Institutions and the manner in which it is compared to global standards;

(b) the manner in which the shortage of teachers has affected the quality of education and research in higher and technical education institutions;

(c) whether shortage of teachers has impacted the accreditation or ranking of institutions at the national or international level, if so, the details thereof; and

(d)  whether  the  Government  has  introduced  any  incentives  to  attract  qualified  professionals  to teaching positions in higher and technical education institutions, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR)

(a)  to  (d)  The  Central  Higher  Education  Institutions  (CHEIs)  under  Ministry  of  Education  are statutory autonomous organizations established under respective Central Acts of Parliament and governed by provisions of the Acts/ Statutes/  Ordinances/ Regulations made thereunder. These institutions follow specific faculty student ratio as per relevant regulations and their statutes. The ideal faculty student ratio for IITs/ IIMs/ IISERs/ IISc/ SPAs has been envisaged as 1:10 and for IIITs/ NITs/ IIEST/ other Centrally funded institutions has been envisaged as 1:12. There is no uniform faculty student  ratio  being  followed  across  CUs,  which  follow  faculty  student  ratio  as approved by their respective statutory bodies. As autonomous institutions, faculty recruitment is done within the institutions itself, in accordance with their Acts and Regulations. The recruitment powers  vests  with  the  respective  Board  of  Governors  (BoGs)/Executive  Committee/Board  of Management and no active role of the Ministry is involved therein.

Occurring  of  vacancies  and  filling  thereof  is  a  continuous  process.  The  vacancies  arise  due  to promotion, retirement, resignation, death, opening of new institutions, schemes or projects, and additional requirements on account of enhanced students' strength and expansion of capacity in existing institutions.

The  faculty  recruitment  processes  are  carried  out  by  the  CHEIs  by  inviting  applications  in  a transparent manner, as part of a multi-step and robust screening process. The Acts and Statutes of various institutions specify, the composition of selection committees, authorities responsible for recruitment  of  various  levels  of  faculty,  provision  of  independent  subject  experts  and  Visitor's nominees etc. so as to ensure transparency and academic rigour in recruitments. UGC has launched a  common  portal  'CU-CHAYAN'  for  faculty  recruitment,  making  provision  for  listing  of vacancies/ advertisements/ jobs across all Central Universities, thus making the entire recruitment process more transparent and accessible.

Ministry of Education had exhorted all the CHEIs to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode. The CHEIs undertake  special  recruitment  drives  to  fill  the  vacancies  including  those  of  Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). From September 2022, the CHEIs have also undertaken Mission Mode recruitment drive to fill the vacancies including those of SC, ST and OBC. Up to 29.10.2024, a total number of 25,777 posts have been filled up including 15,139 faculty positions, in Mission Mode by all CHEIs.

The induction of talented faculty in institutions not only ensures the delivery of quality education but also translates into the improvement of NIRF/QS Ranking of the CHEIs. In QS Ranking, India's performance since 2014 has seen a 360% increase in terms of number of institutions ranked amongst over 1,500 universities, from 10 in 2014 to 46 in 2024, as per recent 2025 edition of QS World University Rankings.

The National Education Policy 2020 seeks to transform higher education by focusing on skill-based education to meet the needs of the industry and the economy. Further, the NEP also recommends integrating  vocational  education  with  general  education  and  strengthening  industry-academia collaboration in CHEIs. Towards this end, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has taken a new initiative to bring the industry and other professional expertise into the academic institutions through 'Professor of Practice'. UGC has framed Guidelines for engaging Professor of Practice in Universities and Colleges on 30.09.2022. In order to bring in distinguished experts from various fields  of  engineering,  science,  technology,  entrepreneurship  etc.  and  to  develop  courses  and curriculum to meet the industry and societal needs and to enable the CHEIs to work with industry experts on joint research project, concept of Professor of Practice has been adopted, and thereby provide exposure and mentorship to students by domain experts.

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