Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Jan 31: There is an acute shortage of Professors and senior teaching positions in Jammu and Kashmir Universities which is adversely affecting the academic activities in these premier institutions.
Majority of the professors at the Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Kashmir University, and Jammu University, are scheduled to retire in the next few months, which would result in a severe shortage of experienced staff at these universities and adversely affect their overall accreditation.
“Most senior Professors will retire in the next 3-4 months, while some have already left and relocated to a Central University to advance their careers. There will be a staff shortage in Universities since it will take so long to hire new people,” a professor said.
An official with access to the information told the Excelsior that there is already a severe lack of Professorial-level teachers in the Universities of Jammu and Kashmir. For instance, he said, that the University of Kashmir has only 55 authorized Professorial jobs, the majority of which (approximately 64%) have been vacant for a very long time.
“One of the main causes of this unpleasant situation is that, despite repeated advertisements, there were not enough qualified candidates to fill these open Professor Positions due to the unattractive age of retirement (62 years), which is lower than that of other institutions (like Central Universities, where it is 65 years),” he said.
Another official said that the situation is the same in other Universities as many departments and research/extension centres are run by junior faculty who are designated as “coordinators” rather than the head of the department, which has a detrimental effect on the academic functioning of such departments and centres. “The number of in-position Professors will further reduce due to the retirement of Professors,” he said.
He said that another fallout of the shortage of Professors in many departments is their ineligibility to seek support under the Special Assistance Program (SAP) of the UGC, as one professor should be in place in a department to qualify for consideration under the SAP. “In view of the very few sanctioned positions of Professor, the difficulty in filling the vacant professor positions, and continued retirements, it is highly desirable to increase the retirement age to 65 years to address the issue of a shortage of Professors in the University,” he said.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha while acknowledging the problems faced by the Universities last year in November during the launch of the yearly youth festival “Sonzal 2022” at the University of Kashmir, had announced enhancement of the retirement age of professors from 62 to 65 years in order to alleviate the staff shortage in Universities.
Although approximately two months have passed and some senior professors have retired from their positions, the directive has still not been issued, raising concerns among University staff members.
An official said that there are few Professors retiring each year that it has no discernible impact on the employment prospects of youth. “Six to seven Professors retire on average each year. In accordance with UGC Regulations 2018, the candidate must have a minimum of 10 years of professional experience before being appointed as a Professor, in addition to their demonstrated field expertise. Thus, limiting the increase in the retirement age to Professors exclusively would have no effect on young people’s access to work. The UGC Committee, which looked at the pay rates and working conditions of University and college instructors, carefully discussed this subject,” he said.
Principal Secretary for School and Higher Education, Alok Kumar, told the Excelsior that he would look into the matter.
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