According to the UGC guidelines, professionals from various fields having considerable years of experience can be appointed as professors in higher education institutions even without formal academic qualifications.
Maharashtra government has initiated implementation of the Professor of Practice policy as directed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) with an objective to provide industry perspective to students in the classroom.
According to the UGC guidelines, professionals from various fields having considerable years of experience can be appointed as professors in higher education institutions even without formal academic qualifications.
The Government Resolution (GR) released earlier this week by the Higher and Technical Education department of Maharashtra has approved five such appointments in government institutions on 10 per cent of the total sanctioned posts.
As part of this, five institutions, namely Institute of Science and Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education in Mumbai, Institute of Science, Aurangabad, Institute of Science, Nagpur, and Vidarbha Institute of Knowledge Science in Amravati, have been allowed to appoint one Professor of Practice each on their rolls.
The GR stated that candidates must have experience of at least 15 years in various industries such as engineering, science, literature, technology, farming, law and media. The appointment will be made by the institutions following the regular recruitment process, starting with advertisement. The institutions will have to use their own funds for these appointment; the government will not provide any financial assistance in this regard.
The GR stated that the appointment will be for a year, adding a maximum of three years of extension can be allowed based on evaluation every year. These professor would be expected to bring industry linkage and provide industry oriented inputs in the curriculum.
The move has irked the existing professors, though. “It is not like there is a dearth of qualified individuals to be appointed as professors. The government has shown complete apathy in filling up the vacant posts and now senior positions are going to be offered to industry professionals who may not be adequately qualified, not just academically but also in their experience of teaching,” said Dr Tapati Mukhopadhyay, former president of the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (MFUCTO).
As per the regular practice, to be appointed as professor, a candidate
must have at least 15 years of experience in teaching, apart from
academic qualifications of PhD, research work and clearing NET or SET.
A number of members of the academia have criticised the GR for not
specifying any other parameter apart from 15 years of experience in the
respective industry for appointment of Professor of Practice. This
ambiguity, according to them, will lead to appointment of subpar talent
in teaching.
