One in three teaching posts at India¡¯s ¡°central¡± universities?is currently vacant, official figures show.

Some 5,606 posts in central universities ¨C about 33 per cent of academic jobs ¨C are currently unfilled, according to information provided by the Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament¡¯s lower house.?India¡¯s 47 central universities are institutions?that are established by an act of parliament and are overseen by the Department of Higher Education.

In addition, some 2,802 teaching posts at India¡¯s flagship institutes of technology ¨C about 34 per cent ¨C are vacant, the government figures also reveal.

¡°For the past 15 to 20 years, universities have been neglected,¡± K. Laxminarayana, an economics professor at the University of Hyderabad, told , a website?that obtained the figures. He added that, in some institutions, ¡°there had been no teacher recruitment¡± for many years.

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Budgetary pressures in India?have meant that universities are relying on ¡°ad hoc¡± academics on short-term contracts to conduct teaching rather than filling full-time academic roles, Professor Laxminarayana added.

¡°Nowadays, the entire system is made up of contract teachers,¡± he continued.

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The failure to invest in permanent faculty members is likely to explain India¡¯s poor showing in global university rankings, he said.

In the 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, India¡¯s highest-ranked institution was its Indian Institute of Science, which is positioned between 251 and 300, while just one other institution ¨C the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (351-400) ¨C was placed inside the top 500.

Addressing India¡¯s parliament in July, however, Prakash Javadekar, minister for human resources development, said that the failure to recruit more permanent staff lay with universities rather than with funding arrangements.

¡°Universities being autonomous institutions, the onus of filling up of vacant teaching posts lies with them,¡± he said, adding that it is the ministry and Universities Grants Commission?that monitor the process.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com