ANANTAPUR: Once a sought-after varsity for students to pursue higher education, Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU) has now lost its academic sheen due to dearth of funds and staff shortage. There was a time when getting a seat for one of the post-graduation (PG) courses at the State-run institution was a herculean task. However, the situation is not the same anymore. In the present scenario, a few PG courses offered by the University have no takers.
The alarming drop in admission rates has prompted the management to close an entire hostel building. The administration reportedly unilaterally issued a circular to stop accepting admissions and close the Law department. As the move drew sharp criticism from students and academicians, the circular was withdrawn.
SKU offers 38 courses and has the sanctioned faculty strength of above 250. However, the University currently has only 48 faculty serving in various capacities. It has been learnt that half of them will be retiring in the forthcoming academic year.
As per norms, a department should comprise a professor, two associate and four assistant professors. In reality, several departments in the University, including Microbiology, Polymer Science, Zoology, History, Hindi (B.Ed & M.Ed), and Adult Education, have been functioning without any teaching faculty.
While English, Economics, Social Science, Rural Development, Electronics, Physical Education, Sericulture, Statistics, Library Science, Geography, Political Science and Law departments are operating with just one faculty member, Commerce, Sociology, Biochemistry, and Maths departments have two professors.
Telugu, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, and Bio-Technology departments have three faculty members, while popular courses like MBA and Computer Science have four professors.Admitting that the varsity has been facing a crisis, registrar Prof. Lakshmaiah said as against the sanctioned posts of 265 faculty members, there are around 60 regular staff and 90 contractual staff working in various departments. “Engineering and Pharma departments, which are self-funded, have contractual faculty. Plans are underway to fill vacancies in a full-fledged manner in all departments to restore the past glory of the University,” he said.
President of SKU Retired Professors’ Welfare Association Prof Pullaiah observed that students at the University have no research exposure due to insufficient stimulus, professors or capital resources.
He opined that based on number of departments, the University should have at least 400 faculty members with six research scholars each, translating into a total of 2,400 research scholars. “
They can act as a stimulus to research activities, get the requisite capital resources and organise conferences on various topics. As a result, student admissions into courses will increase, resulting in higher fellowships and enable new research projects,” he explained.
ABVP State Working president Chennaiah remarked that the involvement of political parties and politicians in the State Universities should be minimised. He opined that individuals without education background should not be appointed as members of executive committees of the universities.
Stating that admissions at SKU have plummeted by 43% in the past couple of years due to the administration’s unilateral decisions, like the proposal to close the Law department, Chennaiah suggested that the academic curriculum should be completely revamped, and new courses should be designed in a way that students are industry-ready.
Guv to take part in SKU convocation
Governor and SKU Chancellor S Abdul Nazeer will participate in the University’s 21st convocation, which is being held after a hiatus of two decades, on Monday.