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Staff crunch grips SPPU, 214 faculty posts vacant
Out of the 384 sanctioned faculty posts, only 169 have been filled while 214 posts (more than 50%) continue to be vacant
At a time when the new academic year is about to start and admissions are underway, most departments of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) – one of the oldest and most reputed universities in the country – are struggling with the shortage of staff. Out of the 384 sanctioned faculty posts, only 169 have been filled while 214 posts (more than 50%) continue to be vacant. Only 14 authorised professors are currently working at the university while around 56% of the faculty posts are vacant.
Professor Sanjeev Sonawane, pro-vice chancellor, SPPU, said, “We have a total 384 posts sanctioned by the state government and we are working on this issue since the past many years. Looking at the student-teacher ratio, the current number of faculties is certainly low and there are a large number of vacant posts. We are trying to get permissions from the state government for immediate recruitment of faculty. On the other hand, we are carrying out temporary recruitment of faculties wherever needed as per the rules.”
This is also impacting the existing staff and faculties at the university campus. One of the senior professors at SPPU on condition of anonymity said, “Many times, we have to teach subjects other than our regular subjects as there is no faculty for the same. Our working hours are stretched, and there are some departments that are about to shut down now as there is no full-time professor to teach in these departments. In the last couple of years, many senior professors have retired, and the research in these departments has stopped.”
Major departments including chemistry, physics, botany, statistics and English have a large number of vacant posts. Even students studying at the university are facing difficulties due to the shortage of faculties. Kuldeep Ambekar, a student and president of the Students Helping Hand organisation said, “There are a large number of students who want to take admission to Ph.D. in various courses at the SPPU but as there are no senior professors, they are not able to take admission. Also in the existing system, many of my friends are complaining about not having faculties in classes. Many times, temporary faculties are being called to teach.”
Since the past many years, the issue of filling up vacant posts has been taken up not only by students and student organisations but also by faculty unions of the university. Despite the state government having sanctioned 384 posts for almost all the departments, there are many departments that do not have an adequate number of faculties to teach. Due to this situation, teaching and research projects have been adversely impacted and students are not willing to take admission in several departments where there is a shortage of faculties.
