Up to 62% Faculty Shortage at Some IITs! Find Out Why
IITs are facing a shortage of faculty due to less attractive packages and a lack of qualifies individuals willing to teach.HRD Ministry has suggested hiring foreign faculty at IITs in order to overcome this deficit.
Indian Institutes of Technology are regarded as the most prestigious institutes for engineering education across the country. However, the institutes have been facing a lot of trouble regarding the shortage of faculty, with an average of 34% in staff shortage. As per the reports,IIT Goa has been facing a 62% shortage in the faculty.
As per the official data provided by the HRD Ministry, around 3709 faculty posts are lying vacant against the total sanctioned 9,718 posts. In IITs such as IIT Dhanbad, Kanpur, and Kharagpur as many as 477, 305 and 481 seats are lying vacant.
IITs are required to maintain a student-teacher ratio of 1:10 and with the introduction of EWS Quota the number of students is expected to increase and hence more faculty posts will be created.
Regarded as the dream institutes for engineering aspirants in India, there is no doubt in the fact that the faculty of the institute are highly-qualified and are paid very well for their job. IIT professors have a salary of Rs 2 lacs per month whereas the salary of an associate professor is around Rs. 1.4 lacs per month. However, over the past few months, there has been a shortage of faculty in the institutes. Listed below are some of the possible reasons for the shortage :
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IITs Faculty Shortage Reasons:
- Since most of the professors are IIT graduates and are offered high paying corporate jobs and salary packages, they don't prefer working in education. This is one of the main reasons behind the shortage.
- 50% of them go to work abroad for better job opportunities, lifestyle and other perks which is adding to the shortage.
- Another reason behind the shortage of faculty is that many new IITs have been established in the lesser known and remote parts of the country due to which IIT professors are reluctant to leave the city life and settle in lesser developed areas.
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AS Seetharamu Education Expert stated that the gap can be plugged by increasing salary packages and encouraging the students to pursue doctoral programs at the institute. To remedy the situation, the HRD Ministry has even suggested hiring foreign faculty at IITs. If the same is approved by external affairs, 30% of the faculty in the prestigious institute is to be filled by NRIs.