UGC directs edu institutions to start engaging Professors of Practice

DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has directed heads of educational institutions including vice-chancellors, directors, and principals to start engaging professional experts as "Professors of Practice".

In a letter to vice-chancellors/directors of all universities/institutions and the principals of all colleges, the UGC said that one of the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 is to impart holistic and multidisciplinary education in higher educational institutions.

This may require the participation of experienced practitioners/professionals/industry experts etc. in the teaching-learning process. "To enable Higher Education institutions to hire professional experts, the UGC has created a new position called "Professor of Practice" and already published the guidelines for engaging Professor of Practice," UGC said in the letter. UGC Secretary PK Thakur said that the UGC has also written to all heads of educational institutions (HEIs) regarding the rules for the engagement of "Professor of Practice".

"Vice-Chancellors of Universities and Principals of Colleges are requested to initiate steps to make necessary changes in their statutes/ordinances/rules/regulations to enable the engagement of "Professor of Practice" in their institutions and an action taken in the matter may kindly be shared in the university activity monitoring portal (uamp.ugc.ac.in)," said Thakur in the letter.

Officials said that guidelines for engaging "Professor of Practice" in universities and colleges have been uploaded on the UGC Website on 30.09.2022.

"The "Professor of Practice" position provides a unique opportunity for educational institutes bring diverse skills to complement the efforts of faculty members of the institutions. Such positions can attract people with exemplary experience from the industry and other professions to be mentors to the students," UGC Chairman Prof. M Jagadesh Kumar told ANI. "UGC is consistently working with the Universities to encourage them to appoint experts as Professors of Practice," he said.