IAS Gyan

Daily News Analysis

PROFESSORS OF PRACTICE

3rd October, 2022 Polity and Governance

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In News

  • According to the recently released guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC); Academic qualification such as a PhD is not necessary to be appointed as faculty in any college or university in India.
    • Under the Guidelines, higher education institutes may create a new teaching position called Professor of Practice to hire experts from diverse sectors, similar provisions already exist in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Details

  • To be qualified for appointment, an individual must be a “distinguished expert”, and has at least 15 years of service or experience.
  • Institutions are free to decide the sector from which they want to hire professionals.
    • A professor of practice can be hired from a diverse range of areas; technology, science, social sciences, media, literature, armed forces, law, fine arts, etc.
  • The position is not open for those individuals who are in the teaching profession — either serving or retired.
  • No formal academic qualification is necessary if a person has been an “exemplary” professional in their field of work.
    • Presently, under the UGC’s minimum qualification an individual needs to be a PhD holder in order to be recruited as a professor or associate professor, and also need to have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET).

Professor of Practice

  • Under the proposed system, Universities and colleges will carry out appointments on a nomination basis.
    • The vice-chancellors or directors could invite nominations for filling up posts, which cannot be more than 10% of the approved faculty strength of an institute.
  • The applications will be evaluated by a selection committee including two senior professors from the respective institute, and one “eminent external member”.
    • Based on the recommendations of the committee, the academic council and the executive council of the institutes will take the final decision on the appointment.
  • Professor of practice can be either full-time or part-time with a minimum of 4 years of engagement. In the starting, the hiring will be done for one year, which may be extended based on the performance.
    • The maximum duration of service in an institution should not be more than 3 years, which might be extended by 1 year in exceptional cases; therefore the total service should not be more than 4 years in any cases.
  • The remuneration will be decided by the institutes and the experts being hired.
  • They will be involved in the development and design of courses and curricula and will deliver lectures as well.
    • They can also carry out joint research projects or consultancy services in collaboration with regular faculty members.

 

Significance of the initiative

  • This will provide much-needed “faculty resources” in universities and colleges, as India’s higher education institutes are understaffed, with thousands of vacancies across central and state universities.
  • It will improve the quality of graduates produced by Indian colleges and universities.
  • It will introduce real-world practices and experiences into classrooms.

 

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/ugc-clears-professors-of-practice-in-all-colleges-universities-8184530/

 

https://t.me/+hJqMV1O0se03Njk9