Going by the progress made in the recruitment process of faculty in Andhra University, it appears that the first phase of the recruitment would be completed before June this year.
The 90-year-old university has been facing severe shortage of teachers for the last two decades and over the years the permanent faculty strength has dropped from 1200 to a meagre 300. The university has been managing by employing about 117 contract teachers.
But now that the government has sanctioned the recruitment of 281 teachers in the first phase and another 110 in the second phase.
According to Vice-Chancellor G. Nageswara Rao, in the first phase 19 professors, 25 associate professors and 237 assistant professors will be recruited and in the second phase 3 professors, 3 associate professors and 104 assistant professors will be taken.
“We are hopeful that the first phase will be completed by June and the second will be over by the year end,” he told The Hindu .
Roster ready
The roster for the recruitment of professors is ready and approved, and the notification has already been issued.
In case of associate professors, the roster is ready but the approval is pending. “It is with the government and we are expecting it to be approved in a day or two, so that we can issue the notification by next week,” said the V-C.
Notification
According to him, the notification for assistant professors will be issued by March end.
While for the recruitment of professors and associate professors, there is no examination and they will be recruited on the basis of merit and interview, candidates for the assistant professors post have to write the examination that will be conducted by APPSC.
According to Prof. Nageswara Rao, the interview board will comprise governor’s nominee, three subject experts, the Vice-Chancellor, faculty chairman and Head of the concerned departments.
But as things progress, the uncertainty over the future of the serving contract teachers increase. The teachers have been demanding immediate absorption into the permanent faculty list or job security combined with Supreme Court guideline of ‘equal pay for equal work’.
The agitation was called off only after HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao assured to set-up a high-level committee to look into the matter in December last year.
Clearing the air, the V-C said as per the norms of recruitment, the contract teachers will be eligible to apply only if they have cleared either the UGC NET or the APSET or if they had obtained a Ph.D before November 2009.
“If they qualify the eligibility criteria they will have to write the APPSC selection test,” he said.
But on their demands, the V-C said the file was now with the government and the HRD Minister will have to take the call.
