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| Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Faculty strength drops in Madurai Kamaraj University
With retirement of 11 persons in June
- The number stands at 142 against the sanctioned 324
- 'Bulk retirement' likely next year
Madurai: The faculty strength of Madurai Kamaraj University
has worsened with 11 more teaching staff retiring from service
on June 30.
With this fresh batch of retirements, the number of faculty
members in the university now stands at 142 against the sanctioned
strength of 324 that includes professors, readers and lecturers.
The institution with 2,000 students, recognised as ‘University
with Potential for Excellence’ by the University Grants
Commission, is worried about the next academic year when ‘bulk
retirements’ are due in many departments.
Authorities told ‘The Hindu’ on Tuesday that the
normal functioning of the university was getting affected in
‘one-man departments’ where a large number of vacancies
existed and hence students/research activi ty had to face the
brunt.
There is also a huge gap in the faculty hierarchy owing to vacancies
arising because of retirements and resignations. Statistics
show that out of 142 faculty members on rolls now, 99 are in
professors’ category many of whom are close to retirement.
Serious gaps existed at the level of readers and lecturers.
“As no appointments were made in the past 17 years, the
teaching staff got promoted as professors over the years, whereas
lecturer vacancies could not be filled.
This will only affect the continuity of work when more people
retire next year,” a senior faculty member said.
According to university authorities, one of the worst victims
of faculty shortage is the School of Biological Sciences, which
once had 34 faculty members.
It has come down to 12 now.
“We have 26 vacancies right now. There are no lecturers
in many science departments,” said P. Gunasekaran, Coordinator
in-charge, School of Biological Sciences.
Officials said that departments were hoping for the recruitment
of 103 lecturers to happen soon.
Courtesy: The Hindu
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