KALABURAGI : Gulbarga University offers an object lesson in how not to run a higher educational institution. The university does not have a vice-chancellor. It plods along with only two professors and four associate professors.
Once a prestigious learning centre in Kalyana-Karnataka, it has been reduced to a university of guest faculty. More than 70 per cent of the sanctioned posts have remained vacant. The university’s admissions have declined over the years, with only 3,000 students studying across its 80 colleges at present. Consider this -- in 2022-23, over 2,000 students took admission and the numbers fell to a mere 800 in 2023-24.
The declining number of students’ intake captures the administrative morass the university finds itself in.
The university was set up on September 10, 1980, with the bifurcation of Karnataka University. Earlier, it functioned as the Postgraduate Centre of Karnataka University from 1970 to 1980.
Over the years, as the state government set up new universities, Gulbarga University lost its stature as Raichur University (2021) and Bidar University (2023) came into existence.
Raichur University has jurisdiction over colleges in Raichur and Yadgir districts, while Gulbarga University’s authority is over colleges only in Kalaburagi district. With bifurcations and dwindling number of colleges, revenues of Gulbarga University have plummeted.
Permanent faculty shortage affects research, says prof
Dayanand Agsar, former vice-chancellor, Gulbarga University, told TNIE that research activities of students would suffer in the absence of permanent teaching staff as guest lecturers are, most often, not up to the task. “Efforts have been on for over a decade to fill up vacant teaching and non-teaching staff posts. After the amendment to Article 371 (J), universities in Kalyana-Karnataka have to re-adjust the reservation for recruitment. The preparation of documents itself took some time and successive VCs of the university submitted repeated requests to the government to fill the vacant posts. There are guest lecturers, but they lack accountability.”
But Venkat Sindhe, a guest faculty at the university, countered the former VC’s argument. “Guest faculty are eligible to become guides and entitled to do valuation work, but the university does not give us the responsibility. Our role is limited to teaching. It extracts much work from us, but does not consider our demand for regularising our service.”
Prof HT Pote, Head of Department of Kannada, and president, Post-Graduate Teachers Association, too, said the shortage of permanent teaching faculty has affected research activities in the university.
“Universities in other parts of the state too have enough permanent teaching staff, but only the universities in Kalyana-Karnataka are facing this problem. The strength of students also has come down in the last two years,” he said.
University registrar Prof Ramesh Landankar said, “The V-C’s post is vacant for the last four months. The process of filling up vacant posts has not yet commenced. Once the V-C is appointed, the process of fixing the roster system and issuing notification to fill up vacant posts will start,” he said.
Anaveer Gowda, a student pursuing MA in History, narrated how frustrating academic pursuit has become. He said students had demonstrated in front of the university administrative office twice demanding permanent teaching staff. “We also asked for regularisation of the service of existing guest lecturers, but the University and the government are silent on the issue,” he added.