FACULTY SHORTAGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION – POLITY
News: Explained
| Why do faculty shortages persist in Indian universities?
What's in the news?
● Faculty
shortages have existed in India’s higher education sector at least since the
1980s, but seem to have become permanent today.
Key takeaways:
● The
paucity of a sufficient number of faculty members undermines the growth of the country’s knowledge sector and hinders
its aspiration to be recognised as a “vishwa guru”.
● Colleges
and universities need a sufficient number of teachers and researchers to create
and disseminate knowledge.
Importance of faculty:
● For
teaching purposes, online education is useful, but it cannot replace classroom instruction.
● For
research purposes, there really is
no substitute for a larger body of qualified faculty members.
Challenges faced by institutes in faculty recruitment:
1. Lack of reliable data on current faculty:
● The
lack of reliable data on current faculty resources in colleges and universities
affects the accurate number of faculties to be recruited for the particular
discipline in the university education.
2. Partial understanding of faculty shortages as
merely a quantitative issue:
● The
stakeholders often misunderstand a shortage to be a quantitative issue. The
nature and scope of the shortage is actually more complex.
3. Part-time faculty treated as permanent members:
● The
widespread use of adjunct faculty members and even ‘ghost’ members by colleges
and universities is another issue that needs to be addressed.
● Adjunct
or part-time faculty members are often counted as part of the regular faculty
to show off a favourable teacher-student ratio.
4. Imbalance between demand and supply:
● The
number of faculty members varies across
disciplines, institutions and locations. There may even be an oversupply in
some disciplines or locations and an acute shortage in others.
● The
challenge here is to first achieve some kind of balance between demand and
supply in specific disciplines, which could help plug the shortages at
different institutions and/or locations.
5. Inability of the public institutions - budget
constraints:
● Many
public institutions face the inability to hire faculty despite a desperate need
for them due to financial conditions and it affects nearly all state
universities.
● Most
of the public institutions, and their constituent colleges, are grossly underfunded.
● Even
despite a large increase in the number of students, state governments have not created or sanctioned new positions and
even when positions exist, they are kept vacant due to a lack of funds.
6. Unwillingness of private institutions to hire
faculty:
● The
unwillingness of institutions to hire faculty members is common in the many
private colleges and universities whose primary
purpose is profit-seeking.
● The
owners and administrators at these institutions prefer to make do with less.
● They
also hire less qualified people in poorly paid part-time positions instead of
better qualified, regular faculty members, to keep costs down.
7. Reservation policies:
● Reservations
reduce the pool of qualified people, sometimes severely affecting the faculty
composition in the institutions. This leads to faculty positions remaining
vacant due to the unavailability of qualified applicants.
8. Unfavorable locations:
● Unwillingness
among faculty members to work at select institutions due to their unfavourable
location and/or the working and living conditions they present.
● Many
newer universities that are not
close to large urban centres face this problem.
9. Qualification issues:
● Faculty
shortages are also of a qualitative kind when shortages may not exist, say, in
terms of the number of applicants with
PhDs but due to few candidates being really qualified for the corresponding
position.
● This
requires us to improve the quality of PhD programmes at Indian universities.
Measures needs to be taken:
1. Encourage career paths in academia:
● Promote
teaching as an attractive career option by offering competitive salaries,
benefits, and career advancement opportunities.
● This
can help attract talented individuals to pursue teaching in higher education.
2. Strengthen teacher training programs:
● Enhance
the quality of teacher training programs to ensure that prospective teachers
are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to excel in the classroom.
● This
can be done by revising curriculum,
incorporating practical teaching experiences, and providing mentorship
opportunities.
3. Enhance recruitment efforts:
● Actively
recruit qualified individuals for teaching positions through targeted
advertisements, job fairs, and collaborations with academic institutions.
● This
can help identify and attract potential candidates who are passionate about
teaching.
4. Retain experienced faculty:
● Implement
measures to retain experienced faculty members by offering competitive salaries, research grants, sabbatical leaves, and
opportunities for professional development.
● Recognize
and reward excellence in teaching through awards and accolades.
5. Emphasize teacher development and support:
● Establish
mentoring programs, teaching workshops,
and peer-review mechanisms to support the professional development of teachers.
● This
can help improve teaching methodologies and ensure continuous growth and
learning among faculty members.
6. Foster research and collaboration:
● Encourage
research and collaboration among faculty members by providing funding for research projects, facilitating partnerships with
industry and other institutions, and promoting interdisciplinary approaches.
● This
can help create an environment that attracts and retains talented academics.