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Patil directs universities to hire contractual professors after drop in NIRF rankings
The ranking of premier academic institution Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) dropped from 37 in 2024 to 91 in 2025 in the overall category
Chandrakant Patil, Maharashtra’s higher and technical education minister, said that immediate steps should be taken to check decline in rankings of institutions across Maharashtra after the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2025 results released by the Centre. The ranking of premier academic institution Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) dropped from 37 in 2024 to 91 in 2025 in the overall category.
At a review meeting chaired by Patil and attended by vice-chancellors of all state universities and senior officials, including principal secretary (higher education) Venugopal Reddy, on Friday, the minister said that “vacant professor posts are affecting universities’ performance in rankings” and professors on contractual basis instead of hourly teaching staff should be appointed as a temporary measure.
The minister’s suggestion that “salaries of contractual professors should be supported through the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds of companies” has raised questions over sustainability and fairness of such an arrangement.
Apart from staff issues, Patil said that universities’ research output, patent registrations, student startups, and innovation metrics must improve to boost their rankings.
Meanwhile, Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal criticised the state government for stalling the recruitment of professors at SPPU.
In a social media post on Saturday, Sapkal pointed out that of 348 sanctioned faculty posts at the university, 238 remain vacant for years. He alleged that the responsibility of running entire courses has been left to barely ten professors.
“This is nothing less than playing with the lives and future of students. Instead of delivering hollow assurances, the government must urgently focus on filling these posts,” Sapkal stated in the online post.
Meanwhile, a student group University Student Struggle Action Committee, led by its president Rahul Sasane, has launched a campaign “Remove Incapable Vice-Chancellor, Save University.” Sasane said, “This fight to save the university will expand further.”
