Editorial: India’s higher education: Vacant posts worsen worries

Faculty shortages and leadership gaps threaten teaching quality, research and the expansion of premier institutions

What ails India’s higher education sector? This question is often raised to understand the paradoxes that the country represents: immense talent on the one hand but poor outcomes on the other. Lack of quality teaching and research, poor infrastructure, outdated curriculum, continued focus on rote learning, poor synergy between universities and industry and lack of genuine autonomy are often cited as factors preventing the sector from harnessing its full potential. It is time the policymakers did some serious introspection on the initiatives needed to improve academic and research standards in our universities. More importantly, the piling vacancies in key positions across universities and other institutes of higher education have been a huge problem impacting the overall academic potential. No country can aspire to become a Vishwaguru and a world knowledge superpower if it leaves a large proportion of its academic capacity empty. The vacuum at the top is reflected by the fact that, as of September this year, 37 of 155 Institutions of National Importance (INIs) – nearly 24% – are currently functioning with interim or acting heads or those with additional charge or on extensions. Of the 48 central universities, 20 had no regular leadership in place. The situation gets particularly worrying in the Indian Institutes of Information Technology, where 10 of 25 lacked regular full-time directors. Three IIMs, three NITs and one IISER were also functioning without regular directors. As per the figures presented by the Ministry of Education in Parliament, central universities had 18,951 sanctioned teaching posts, of which 4,889 were vacant as of July last year.

This means roughly one vacancy for every four sanctioned posts. The number of posts and appointments has grown over the years, but this scale of vacancy cannot be treated as a marginal administrative problem. The shortage is even sharper in the IIT system. As of January this year, 4,804 of 12,498 faculty positions across 23 IITs were vacant, constituting nearly 38%. The growing pile of vacancies becomes particularly problematic when the institutes of higher learning are expanding their capacities. The Union Cabinet had recently approved infrastructure expansion in five newer IITs to accommodate more than 6,500 additional students by 2028-29. Increasing the number of seats without sufficient teachers could further weaken the system. It is the same story with the Indian Institutes of Management as well. The records showed that 32% of 1,741 sanctioned faculty posts across 18 IIMs were vacant. The shortage of staff means that the existing faculty would be forced to do the heavy lifting. Doctoral supervision becomes thinner, laboratories cannot use their full capacity, and fewer new research groups emerge. A shortage of senior professors also weakens the mentoring of younger faculty, the creation of new departments and the transmission of an institution’s intellectual memory. As a result, students will have reduced course choices and less individual attention.