Colleges struggle to bridge faculty gap

Colleges struggle to bridge faculty gap

TNN | Mar 12, 2024, 05.01 AM IST

Hyderabad: With the exponential surge in the number of seats for computer science and related courses, many colleges are grappling with a shortage of faculty in the department, particularly in emerging tech courses.

“Hardly any college has the necessary faculty to effectively teach computer science courses,” stated the head of the CSE department faculty at a private college in the city. The HoD highlighted the necessity of utilising faculty from other departments to address this shortfall.

According to regulations set by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), faculty members from core engineering disciplines can teach courses in emerging areas upon completing 10 credit online courses through platforms like SWAYAM/NPTEL. “There is a dearth of qualified faculty for emerging areas, prompting AICTE to permit core engineering faculty to teach these courses post online certification,” read a circular from AICTE.

However, this guideline isn't being implemented in Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana, as colleges are hesitant to recruit core engineering faculty, despite their completion of certificate courses. Faculty members argued that hiring core engineering faculty would be mutually beneficial, providing them with employment while offering students interdisciplinary expertise. “Despite the pressing need for faculty, managements are reluctant to hire from core engineering backgrounds,” said A Santosh Kumar, president of the Telangana Schools and Technical Colleges Employees Association, attributing this reluctance to a desire to cut costs on salaries.