It is likely that industry ‘experts’ will be hired as full-time or part-time faculty in central universities without even a PhD or a NET qualification. Academicians however condemned the move.
This was revealed in a news agency report, which quoted an official as saying that the University Grants Commission (UGC) “has plans” to unveil a new system allowing industry experts to teach as full-time or part-time faculty members in central universities.
According to the official, special positions such as professor of practice and associate professor of practice will be created and they will be hired as full-time or part-time faculty members depending on the requirements of the university. Moreover, those who have retired at 60 will also be eligible for these positions and will be able to work till the age of 65.
This new proposal was discussed at the meeting held by the UGC chairman with the vice-chancellors of central universities on Thursday (March 10).
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A committee will be set up to work out the modalities and will submit its report, the official said, according to the PTI report. The UGC is also considering setting up a portal as a single point for those willing to apply to a university.
However, this move was not welcomed by the academic community. Delhi University Professor Abha Dev Habib hit out at the move in a Facebook post pointing out that the government was trying to free itself from giving jobs to qualified teachers on a permanent basis. According to the DU professor, teachers who have been teaching for past several years are not “experts” in the eye of the government and are not being made permanent or even shortlisted for permanent interviews. This is the situation in many DU departments.
“But people labelled “experts” by BJP-RSS can be parachuted into any system,” she added in her Facebook post.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh tweeted that this is a step towards ‘dismantling higher education’. The UGC currently mandates that a PhD is required as a minimum qualification to get into a university as a professor or an associate professor.