HYDERABAD: Despite the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC) certifying them as A+, some universities are functioning with insufficient faculty. Over 3,000 sanctioned posts in government institutions, including at UG and PG levels, remain vacant in universities across Telangana. Universities like Osmania, Kakatiya, Mahatma Gandhi and Palmuru are facing severe faculty crunch as no recruitments have been made after Telangana formation.Kakatiya University is operating with only 102 of the 351 sanctioned faculty.
According to the Registrar, though the universities got approval to fill about 1,051 sanctioned posts, the proposal is under consideration of Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE). The TSCHE is preparing the ground for recruitm-ent and soon may co-nduct the State Eligibility Test (SET).
Candidates who clear the SET or the National Eligibility Test (NET) are eligible to be appointed faculty in a university. However, no SET has been conducted after 2014 in the St-ate. Thousands of candidates who have qualified NET in the meantime are waiting for the recruitment process to start.NET or SET with with Ph.D is the criteria for professor, associate and assistant professor at university level.
According to Osmania University Registrar Prof Laxmi Narayana: “The proposal for SET has been sent to the Secretary. He replied that the matter will be discussed after district allocations of the employees are sought out. Registrar has informed that the university is prepared to conduct SET, steps will be taken immediately following the instruction of TSCHE.”TSCHE statistics show that enrolments in UG and PG programmes have increased, but students suffer since there are no sufficient instructors.