Osmania University hasn’t recruited a single professor in over a decade

Of the 1,300 sanctioned professor posts, only 300 are filled.

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 professor at the university, who did not want to be named due to fear of repercussion, confirmed with Siasat.com. “I joined the university in 2007. The last recruitment drive was conducted in 2013,” he said. The professor himself joined as an assistant professor and 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 by 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 has been 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.