Latest news on Andhra University

The Chief Minister has envisioned that every district should have at least one State university. And in the process, 12 of the 13 district have one. And with the inauguration of the Gurajada Apparao University in Vizianagaram shortly, the circle will be complete.

But are the universities functioning as desired and do they have the required staff strength? The answer is a clear ‘No’ as the oldest and the most reputed one in the State — the Andhra University — itself is reeling under staff /faculty crunch, and the situation in the others is pathetic.

Of the sanctioned strength of 1,100 in the AU, the strength is less than 300, which is less than 30%.

Moreover, in the next two years about 50 to 80 professors will attain the superannuation age of 62 years. This will bring the strength to less than 200.

“In such a scenario, how can the university function, and how will it retain its ranking in the NIRF and other ranking systems, where the student-faculty ratio plays a key role,” said a senior professor.

To get a good rank and to receive funds from agencies such as RUSA, UGC, DST, CSIR and other agencies, the basic eligibility is a minimum of seven faculty members per department.

At present there are departments such as history and archaeology, philosophy, psychology, public administration and political science where the strength has dwindled to just ‘one’ permanent faculty.

“With the retirement of Prof John Babu from the History and Archaeology department this April and a few others in other departments soon, the strength will be ‘zero’ there. This needs to be given an urgent thought by the authorities. The number of universities does not matter. What matters is quality with adequate faculty,” said a professor, who is retiring this April.