Panjab University faces faculty crunch

CHANDIGARH: Following a survey undertaken by PUTA, some startling facts have emerged on the state of faculty positions in various departments of sciences. While Panjab University has expanded in terms of addition of new courses, there is a massive depletion of faculty in the ranks of Panjab University.



In some of the departments, while the courses offered have doubled, the faculty strength has depleted by half over the last couple of years. And the worrying aspect of all this is that the recruitment of the faculty does not seem to be on the immediate agenda of the University authorities. Despite reminders by PUTA and various Chairpersons of the Departments concerned, the gap between the sanctioned posts and the regular faculty is increasing every day. 

In the department of Chemistry, the total sanctioned posts are 45, the existing strength of the faculty at the moment is 15 only out of which three are on the verge of retirement. Being one of the basic sciences, Chemistry is taught in every other department of sciences as subsidiary course. And the burden falls on the incumbent teachers.

In the University Institute of Chemical Engineering, the situation is really desperate. As one of flagships of the University, the Institute offers six different types of degrees both at graduate and postgraduate levels, including integrated MBA and course in Food Technology. As many as 38 guest teachers are sharing the workload with the regular faculty of 22 which is half of the sanctioned strength. In the department of Physics, new courses such as M.Sc.(Medical Physics), M.Tech (Nano-tech and Nano Science)  have been added to the existing B.Sc. and M.Sc. Honours degrees in Physics and Electronics, but the irony is that its faculty positions to the tune of more than 40% remain unfilled. In the department of Botany, out of 25 sanctioned posts, 12 are vacant.

In the department of Anthropology, out of the 18 sanctioned posts, 6 are vacant. In the University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, two new courses have been added to the existing M.Pharm courses, but the faculty strength is just 19 out of the sanctioned 36. On an average, about 20 hours per week are taken care of by the guest teachers. In the department of Mathematics, the story is no different. Out of the total sanctioned posts of 30, there are as many as 12 vacant posts. The department provides two B.Sc. (Hons.) courses and two M.Sc. (Hons.) courses. As a result of this continual slide in the numbers of regular faculty, the burden on existing faculty has increased manifold. The teachers are left with little time to devote to research and other pursuits of higher learning.

PUTA shares the anguish and resentment of the over-burdened faculty and will not sit silent if the recruitment drive is not undertaken on priority. A similar survey is also underway in other departments of the University.