Fill faculty vacancies in time-bound manner, Prez tells NITs

The almost 50 per cent vacancies at the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) should be filled in a time-bound manner, President Pranab Mukherjee said today as he gave pointers for them to achieve greater proficiency as centres of training and research.
Urging the NITs to make innovation a way of life, the President called upon them to develop at least one department each as a model of excellence, according to a press release issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan. 'Innovation clubs' should be set up on all NIT campuses on a priority basis, he said.
He drew attention to the over 44 per cent vacancies in faculty positions in the old NITs along with the over 63 per cent empty faculty seats in the new NITs and directed that steps to achieve full strength of teaching staff should be taken in a time-bound manner.

The remarks by the President came upon conclusion of a two-day conference of the Directors of NITs here.
He called upon the Ministry of Human Resource Development to take measures for providing flexibility to NITs in hiring outstanding candidates from industry, foreign universities and national laboratories as visiting and adjunct faculty.
He further emphasised that improving international ratings should be an important area of attention and asked NITs to nominate one senior professor as coordinator for interface with evaluating agencies, the release said.

He said each NIT should within the next six months set up an Industry Cell in collaboration with local industry and industry associations.

This cell must establish contact with at least 10 industrial units/SMEs to develop collaborative research projects, internships, faculty exchange programmes and workshops etc., the release added.
The President said the conferences of Directors of NITs would be an annual feature, adding that he intends to maintain contacts with the faculty and students of the institutes through video conferencing.
Detailed recommendations were made by the Directors of NITs at the end of the conference which will be examined by the HRD ministry.
The concluding session was also addressed by HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju.