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Hyderabad: Walk into any department at Osmania University these days and you’re likely to find something integral missing: A professor.

The university has not held a single faculty recruitment drive since 2013. Of the 1,300 sanctioned professor posts, only 300 are filled. The Telangana government is yet to issue a recruitment notification.

A Patrick, the university’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), confirmed with Siasat.com. “I joined the university in 2007. The last recruitment drive was conducted in 2013,” he said. Patrick himself joined as an assistant professor, was later promoted to associate professor, a position he held for two years. 

He acknowledged that most posts remain vacant and added that other state universities are grappling with the same problem.

12 depts without full-time professors: CAG report

His remarks are now backed a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report, recently tabled in the Telangana Assembly, which found that 12 departments in the university are functioning without full-time professors. 

The list cuts across disciplines – French, German, Kannada, Russian, Tamil, Library and Information Science, Physical Education, Master of Computer Applications, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Biotechnology, and Master of Social Work (MSW).

The problem runs deeper in some of these departments. MCA, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Biotechnology and MSW don’t even have assistant professor posts. These departments are being run on a patchwork of regular assistant professors and contract or part-time staff, the CAG report says.

Flouting UGC norms

Under University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, both the 2010 and 2018 versions, each department is required to have one professor, two associate professors and four assistant professors. “Audit observed that the university flouted the regulations by not sanctioning posts of professors in 12 academic departments,” the CAG report said.

The university, in its response to the audit, said the state government had approved filling only associate professor and assistant professor positions back in 2006 and 2009, without professor posts. As a result, all professors currently at OU have reached that rank through the Career Advancement Scheme, promoted from associate professor positions. 

“Therefore, the University cannot maintain the pyramid structure as per the UGC regulations-2010 and 2018,” OU said.

In other words, the university accepted the structural flaw and working around it ever since.

39 students, no teacher

The most striking finding in the CAG report is what happened at the Department of Theatre Arts at Nizam College. For four academic years, from 2017-18 to 2020-21, the department ran with 39 students on its rolls but not a single regular or contract teaching staff member. Part-time teachers were brought in to keep the course afloat. By 2021-22, even that arrangement had run its course. The department was wound up.

Hyderabad: The Osmania University is currently facing a faculty crunch as positions for professors are vacant, and no recruitment drive has happened since 2013.

The university currently has 1300 sanctioned professor posts and only 300 faculty members. The Telangana government has yet to release a notification regarding recruitments for the university.

Speaking to Siasat.com, A Patrick, the university’s PRO, said, ” I joined the university in 2007. The last recruitment drive was conducted in 2013.” After joining the university, Patrick served as an assistant professor after which he was promoted to the position of associate professor. A position he held for two years.

He agreed that most of the posts are vacant and said that other universities in the state also face a similar problem.

Patrick’s remarks match the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report, which states that 12 departments in the university are functioning without full time professors.

These departments include French, German, Kannada, Russian, Tamil, Library and Information Science, Physical Education, Master of Computer Applications, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Biotechnology and Master’s in Social Work (MSW).

Departments lack assistant professor posts

Some departments, including Master of Computer Applications, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Biotechnology and MSW, did not have positions of assistant professors.

According to the CAG report, which was recently tabled in the Telangana Assembly, these departments are functioning with regular assistant professors and a few contract or part-time professors.

UGC regulations

According to University Grants Commission rules 2010 and 2018, the university must have a structure including one post of professor, two posts of associate professors and four posts of assistant professors per department.

“Audit observed that the university flouted the regulations by not sanctioning posts of professors in 12 academic departments,” the report said.

As per the CAG report, the university responded stating that the state government approved the filling of associate professors and assistant professors during the years 2006 and 2009 without professor posts.

OU’s response

“All the professors working in the University are promoted from the associate professor to professor under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS). Therefore, the University cannot maintain the Pyramid structure as per the UGC regulations-2010 and 2018,” the OU said.

Another startling revelation was that the university operated the Department of Theatre Arts with no regular or contract teaching staff, even though 39 students were on rolls, four academic years between 2017-18 to 2020-21 at Nizam College. The university employed part-time teachers to teach this course until 2020-21, before winding up the course in 2021-22.