The Department of History and Archaeology at Andhra University currently does not have a single permanent faculty, ever since its lone member Prof. N. John Babu retired in April.
The staff shortage is not limited to this department alone, as almost every other department at the nine-decade-old university is grossly under-staffed. The sanctioned strength of the Department of Anthropology is 17 members, but only has two faculty members. There are only four faculty members in the Political Science Department which has a sanctioned strength of 15.
The overall budgeted strength of AU is about 1,100 but the number of permanent faculty is just around 300 — less than 30% of the sanctioned positions.
For a university like AU, which is among the most reputed institutions in the country and has a student strength close to 12,000, the faculty strength of 300 is dismal, said a senior professor of the varsity.
The student-teacher ratio, which would have been 1:40 given the current scenario, has somehow been kept at a respectable 1:22, due to efforts by the university to rope in part-time and contract teachers.
"The problem of faculty shortage is not new for the university, and has been persisting for the last three decades. The last time professors were recruited was in 2006," Vice-Chancellor Prof. G. Nageswara Rao said.
Statewide issue
The issue of faculty shortage is a common problem shared by the 18-odd State universities in Andhra Pradesh, including the recently-launched ones like Gurajada Apparao University and the Tribal University in Vizianagaram. The Tribal University is a Central University, with AU being appointed as its mentor varsity.
As per Professor Arjunudu, president of the A.P. State University Contract Teachers Association, the immediate requirement in all these universities is over 3,000, but the government had sanctioned only 1,108 posts. Even these posts have not been filled so far, two years after being sanctioned.
Dogged by delays
The process to recruit faculty was initiated at AU a decade ago, but it never took off in earnest, say insiders. A three-member rationalisation committee was formed to identify the requirements in each department, and the committee recommended the filling up of 370 posts. But the proposal was shelved.
Later, in 2017, another rationalisation committee was formed and the committee came out with a report suggesting the recruitment of at least 350 teachers comprising professors, associate professors and assistant professors.
The process was completed, and an eligibility test for assistant professors was also conducted by the AP Public Service Commission. Results were declared and a list of candidates who were to be called for the interview was also prepared. However, the interview process was kept in abeyance due to various reasons.
"A court case held up the hiring process for the post of professors. For the post of assistant professors, a number of reasons such as court cases and model code of conduct for the ongoing general elections has put the spanner in the recruitments," Prof. Nageswara Rao said.
Faculty was AU’s forte
Faculty strength of AU was one of its strong points in the past, not just in terms of numbers but also in terms of quality.
"Excellent teachers make a great university. There is a need to revive the old traditions followed by former Vice-Chancellors such as C.R. Reddy and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan to invite the best minds to the campus," said former Rector of AU Prof. A. Prasanna Kumar.
"There was a time when AU boasted of professors like Prof. C. Mahadevan, Prof. Hiren Mukherjee, Dr. T.R. Seshadri, Dr. S. Bhagavantham, Prof. Ludwig Wolfe, Humayun Kabir and Prof. V.K.R.V. Rao," said Prof. Kumar. "Apart from recruiting new teachers, the brightest minds must be invited to the campus, if the varsity’s former glory is to be restored," he said.
Conspiracy theory
A senior professor alleged that starving the universities of funds and teachers is a conspiracy
to muzzle the voice of the universities. "The 2016 draft of the New Education Policy and the AP Private University Bill, indicates a thrust towards privatisation. It appears to be a conspiracy to weaken the public and state universities and then slowly hand them over to some private player with all its strengths and assets," the professor said, requesting anonymity.
