Pune: Only 14 Full-Time Professors Available At SPPU; Several Departments May CLose Down Due To Lack Of Faculty

Pune, 27th July 2022: As many as 56% of the vacant positions in the administration at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) remain unfilled. Due to a shortage of professors or tutors, many departments are in danger of closing. There are currently only 14 full-time professors left across all SPPU departments. There are also 120 assistant professors and 35 associate professors.

There is a significant lack of skilled teaching staff, and several departments have scaled back their research initiatives. In three departments, not a single professor has yet been appointed, while a couple of reputable departments only have one or two professors.

SP Lawande, State President of Maharashtra Federation of Universities Colleges Teachers Organization (MFUCTO) stated, “The state administration had purposefully broken the recruitment channel for full-time professors. Just 44% of the employees at SPPU are barely managing all the departments. There are no professors in the three departments. Tutors who work part-time have been hired and are paid by the hour.”

He added, “This will discourage new admissions to a reputable university. We have already urged the state government to grant full-time academics per the student-to-faculty ratio for 2017. But because of the political chaos, the procedure has been delayed for a while. The standard of academic education and research will be severely impacted.”

Prafulla Pawar, SPPU Registrar said, “Temporary arrangements have been established at the university level to fill vacant teaching seats in most of the disciplines. The university has approved the hiring. The next step in this procedure is already under progress.”