Demand-supply gap key to vacant faculty posts in IITs

Demand-supply gap key to vacant faculty posts in IITs

Reverse brain drain has affected the number of quality faculty

Rajlakshmi.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

27.12.2021

The Education ministry has recently pointed out that over 10,000 faculty posts are lying vacant in central universities, IITs and IIMs. While much has been written about the challenges facing central universities, the IITs and IIMs may also be facing a similar predicament. Statistics claim 3,876 full-time faculty posts are lying vacant in the 23 IITs, with around 32 ST, 183 SCs and 462 OBC faculty posts lying vacant. At the IIMs, 403 posts across 20 IIMs are lying vacant, while collectively, the IIMs have 5 SC, 27 ST and 45 OBC faculty posts lying vacant.

Sarit K Das, institute professor, IIT Madras, and former director IIT Ropar attributes it to the demand-supply gap that was there even two decades back. “Just as the number of IITs have gone up—from 5 to 23—so have the number of students and the demand for quality faculty. Even though several faculty have been recruited in the last five years, the gap in faculty posts continues.”

Merit counts

The vacant posts are also due to the IITs’ stringent selection criteria and meritocracy culture, he says. “If the IITs do not get the right candidate with proper academic and research credentials, they would rather keep the post vacant than fill it up with a candidate who falls short of expectations.”

Lacunae exists

“Even as the demand for quality faculty is going up, the availability of quality faculty is not increasing at the same rate despite reverse brain drain and the impetus given to research. Following the recommendations of the Anil Kakodkar Committee report on the future of the IITs 5-6 years ago, the intake of PhD scholars had almost doubled in the IITs. But these scholars would need another 3-5 years to complete their post doc which is a key requisite for IIT posts, hence the lacunae will continue to exist,” Das adds.

Location factor

The faculty vacancies may also be location-driven, he says. “The IITs or IIMs in the bigger cities find it easier to attract the right candidates as compared to similar institutes in Tier II and Tier III cities since spouse’s employability, children’s education and medical facilities matter in the final decision-making process. Even though visiting faculty may help fill the gaps albeit temporarily, less faculty translates into more teaching and administrative responsibilities for the existing faculty which results in less time for quality research.”

Fulfilling norms

“Filling up of faulty posts is a continuous process”, says BS Sahay, director, IIM Jammu, stressing that the IIMs too are selective in recruiting the right candidate. The prospective faculty needs to have a PhD from a top-ranking institute, along with impressive publications.