TN Higher Education Dept to monitor faculty appointment by private colleges

CHENNAI: The Higher Education Department has decided to take a series of measures to ensure transparency and merit in appointing assistant professors and associate professors of self-financing colleges. The department plans a qualification approval system to ensure such colleges follow due norms.

The Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education, which comes under the Higher Education Department, has been entrusted to carry out the quality enhancement in appointing professors in those colleges.

A senior official from the Higher Education Department said that institutions running with their own funds are often found to flout norms fixed by various state and central agencies while conducting recruitment for assistant professors and associate professors.

“As per the UGC’s latest (2024) norms, those who apply for assistant professor posts in self-financing colleges should have a minimum qualification of a PhD or should have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) or State Eligibility Test (SET), which is seldom followed”, the official said.

Many self-financing colleges in the state have been flouting UGC norms and rules framed by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in the appointment of faculty members, the official added.

“Considering such ugly practices, we have decided that all future appointments done by private institutions, accredited by the UGC, should be well documented for scrutiny. A detailed report on the appointment of professors should be maintained in the respective colleges of their service”, he said. If any college was found to be violating the rule, serious action would be taken against the institution. including removal of the recognition, he warned.

P Thirunavukkarasu, vice chairman, the Association of University Teachers (AUT) told DT Next that many self-financing colleges claim that they do not get qualified candidates, forcing them to circumvent norms and rules.

“The institutions were going ahead in appointing candidates having post-graduation, which is totally against the rules”, he said. He also cited the poor pay, Rs 10,000 per month for a faculty of a higher education institution, as the reason why qualified candidates don’t turn up at self-financed institutions. Thirunavukkarasu pointed out that because unqualified faculty getting appointed, the student’s future is put at stake.