UGC issues norms for hiring of faculty in higher educational institutions

The University Grants Commission (UGC) issued guidelines on Tuesday for recruitment of faculty members in institutes of higher education to address the issue of shortage of quality teaching staff in such institutions.

In a letter written to the vice-chancellors of universities and to colleges and institutions deemed to be universities, the UGC said the shortage of quality teaching faculty in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) was a major concern and needed to be addressed immediately for improving the quality of higher education.

"Shortage of quality teaching faculty in HEIs is one amongst the many issues presently confronting the higher education system in the country. This is also affecting the quality of higher education. Therefore, the guidelines should be followed by HEIs to ensure timely filling up of vacant faculty posts with appropriately eligible and competent candidates," the UGC said.

The guidelines said the HEIs should ensure that the details of all the vacant posts, along with the reservations details, were uploaded on the online portal -- . The monitoring of the filling up of vacancies would be done by the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry and the UGC through the portal.

The HEIs should initiate and complete the selection process within a period of six months, the UGC said.