UGC says 10% cap on contractual faculty not dropped for autonomous colleges

NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) on Monday clarified that it has not dropped the provision to limit contractual staff to 10% of total faculty strength that was part of Autonomous Colleges Regulations of 2018. The clarification comes after some media reports stated that the UGC regulations 2023 has removed the cap on appointment of contractual faculty for autonomous colleges.

The provisions not only restrict the contractual appointment up to 10% but also provide for the qualifications and emoluments of contractual teachers at par with the regular teachers, the UGC secretary Manish R Joshi said.

“These provisions prescribe higher standards and will enhance the quality of teaching-learning in the autonomous colleges,” the commission said.

“This erroneous conclusion has been drawn in comparison to the autonomous colleges regulations of 2018 which had a provision that the number of contractual faculty in an autonomous college should not be more than 10% of the total number of sanctioned faculty positions in the college,” Manish R Joshi said.

The commission said that “the regulations have been revised to enhance the quality of higher education in the country and primarily provide for the conferment of autonomous status upon colleges and measure for the maintenance of their standards”.

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Appointment of contractual faculty

"Clause 13 of the UGC Autonomous Colleges Regulation 2023 mandates that the autonomous colleges shall at all times adhere to UGC Regulations and Guidelines made and issued by the Commission from time to time. The Regulations of 2023 are, thus, to be read with other regulations/guidelines issued by the UGC,” the official statement read.

It reiterated that the UGC regulations for teachers appointment issued in 2018 lay down comprehensive provisions on the appointment of contractual faculty and are applicable to all universities and colleges, including autonomous colleges.

As per the guidelines, teachers should be appointed on contract basis only when it is absolutely necessary and when the student-teacher ratio does not satisfy the laid-down UGC norms. In any case, the number of such appointments should not exceed 10% of the total number of faculty positions in a college or university.

It also said that the selection process for appointing contractual teachers should be the same as those applicable to a regularly-appointed teacher. “The fixed emoluments paid to such contract teachers should not be less than the monthly gross salary of a regularly appointed assistant professor. Such appointments should not be made initially for more than one academic session,” the UGC added.

It further said that the performance of any such teachers should be reviewed before reappointing them on contract basis for another session.

“Such appointments on contract basis may also be resorted to when absolutely necessary to fill vacancies arising due to maternity leave, child-care leave, etc.” the UGC secretary said.