Anna univ makes unique ID must for faculty

TO CHECK FRAUD

Anna univ makes unique ID must for faculty

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.02.2021

Several engineering colleges have sacked many faculty members due to Covid-19 and Anna University has tightened rules to prevent colleges from showing fake faculty members for getting affiliation from the university. Along with Aadhaar and PAN card, it has made it mandatory for colleges to give All India Council for Technical Education's (AICTE) unique ID for each faculty member while seeking affiliation.

The 10-digit ID number has been allotted to more than five lakh faculty members in nearly 11,000 institutions across the country. “The database will not accept the ID number for more than one faculty member. Further, each ID will have a photo, name, department and college name,” an official from Anna University said.

If the admissions are poor, the colleges will hire temporary faculty members during the inspection by the universities. Some used to show the same faculty member in different colleges. To avoid such practices, the university made Aadhaar card and PAN number mandatory.

The university has invited online applications for affiliation for the year 2021-22. Of 537 engineering colleges and stand alone colleges in the state, there are around 60,000 faculty members working last year.

Due to the pandemic, the colleges could not pay their faculty members and many sacked senior faculty members. The university has also received some complaints from the faculty members about non-payment of salary and job loss from the faculty members. Professors from engineering colleges said it is not possible for colleges with poor admissions to maintain a faculty-student ratio as they sent away many faculty members.

"The faculty-students ratio calculated not by the enrollment but by the sanctioned strength. So, the colleges should maintain the same faculty members even if there are no admissions. It leads to some colleges hiring temporary faculty members," a professor from an engineering college said.

Some principals felt that the move would reduce the fake faculty members to an extent.

“The unique ID number would minimise fake faculty members but it cannot completely eradicate it as there are many postgraduates and engineers who lost jobs and might be used during inspection,” said M A Maluk Mohammed, director and correspondent of MAM College of Engineering and Technology in Trichy. “Colleges need quality faculty members to improve admissions,” he added.

Another principal said there are more recommendations to hire faculty members than for admissions this year due to job loss.

“Earlier, we used to have recommendations for admissions. With only a few colleges hiring, we received hundreds of applications and many recommendations for faculty positions,” a principal of a city engineering college said.