Telangana VCs barred from talent poaching

Hyderabad: The question has assumed significance as the University Grants Commission (UGC) allows universities with higher ratings to source faculty from abroad.

Speaking to The Hans India, sources in a SUs said, until recently, the Institute of National Importance (INI), Central Universities, and Institutes of Excellence have been inviting academicians from other Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) or from abroad to take up assignments in teaching and research.

Each HEI creates a road map about its vision and mission and, how to strengthen each department by bringing experienced and expert faculty and researchers, also, to boost original research to develop a department over a period of time. For this VCs of HEIs have the freedom to invite or even poach faculty, offering attractive terms for hiring them, either for a specific period on a contract basis or permanently.

"This is helping HEIs to build up research prowess of each department in a phased manner and over a period of time," said a senior faculty member in physical sciences of Osmania University.

The Hyderabad Central University is the best example of how it had built a name for itself both in the stream of liberal arts and in inter-disciplinary areas of life and medical sciences. That is how IIT-Hyderabad has strengthened itself and has been competing with its older counterparts, he said.

However, VCs of SUs never had such freedom until recently. Considering this, the UGC has allowed the State Universities with higher academic ratings by the public accreditated agencies and those who stood in the top slots in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) to hire faculty from not only within the country but also from abroad.

However, the 'concurrency regime' has turned out to be a hurdle for every VC in SUs to avail such freedom. To invite experienced faculty or poach talent from other universities within the country in senior faculty positions.

Explaining the 'concurrency regime' a former SU VC said, everything seems uncertain and confusing for the stakeholders. "We do not know if those at the top have any clarity. But the faculty, students and university administration and even VCs have no clarity as to what is going on. While primary education is taking a beating, higher education in the State is moving like a rudderless boat," he pointed out.

Now the State government wants to have a common board of recruitment on the excuse that different universities are following different norms. That is no excuse. Because no university can violate the UGC regulations, State norms of rules of reservation and the like. That is how even national institutions and Central universities function. Yet VCs have the freedom to invite and recruit experts to engage in academic or research activities. When it comes to SUs, "VCs can't confidently go and invite any expert faculty to their universities. Because, they have no freedom like their counterparts and unless they get concurance from babus heading the Higher Education department they cannot invite anyone to be faculty members or buildup a team of researchers in any SUs to strengthen the departments," he added.