The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently announced that it will do away with the mandatory PhD qualification to teach in Central Universities (CUs) spread across the country. It purportedly addresses a shortage of qualified faculty in CUs. According to the Ministry of Education data, there were 10,000 teaching positions lying vacant in CUs as of December 2021.
Industry experts and professional practitioners from different fields with domain expertise will be brought in to address the shortage by creating special positions of Professor and Associate Professor of Practice. Recently, UGC Chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar stated that the New Education Policy (NEP) “emphasises better collaboration with industries. The experts need to have demonstrated experience in a given domain.” On the face of it, this appears well-intentioned. However, it also raises an important question. What is the main problem that the UGC is trying to solve? Is it carte blanche to do away with PhDs to meet the shortfall? Are we going to treat PhDs and other professors as equals? If so, it should not be. It is a treacherous path laden with umpteen challenges.
