COIMBATORE: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has come out with a draft regulation governing appointment of teachers and other academic staffs in colleges and universities and maintenance of quality in higher education system.
The draft rule says that the teachers appointed on contract basis should not be more than ten percent of total faculty posts in the institution and they should also be paid on par with the regular faculty.
The draft regulation also said, universities and colleges must adopt at least 180 working days, i.e. there should be a minimum of 30 weeks of actual teaching in a 6-day week.
Of the remaining period, 12 weeks may be devoted to admission and examination activities, and non-instructional days for co-curricular, sports, college day, etc., 8 weeks for vacations and 2 weeks may be attributed to various public holidays, it added.
The workload of the teachers in full employment should not be less than 40 hours a week for 30 working weeks (180 teaching days) in an academic year.
It should be necessary for the teacher to be available for at least 7 hours daily in the university or college, out of which at least 2 hours for mentoring of students (minimum 15 students per coordinator) for community development or extracurricular activities or library consultation in case of under graduate courses and at least 2 hours for research in case of post graduate courses, for which necessary space and infrastructure should be provided by the university or college.
The minimum direct teaching-learning process hours should be 16 hours for assistant professor and 14 hours for associate professor and professor.
Association ersity Teachers former president K Pandiyan said, this is the lowest pay revision. There is a huge difference in pay structure between college and university teachers and IIT teachers. The draft regulation does not suggest API score for career advancement scheme, instead has self-appraisal form, Pandiyan added.