Chandigarh: Panjab University is finding it difficult to fill up the vacant posts in its various departments. Numerous advertisements inviting applications for the posts have failed to bring up suitable candidates for the job.
When interviews were conducted in University Institute of Engineering and Technology last month, not even half of the posts could be filled. In the stream of Mechanical Engineering, responding to the advertisement for 10 posts of lecturers, two candidates were selected out of the four who had applied. For the four posts advertised in the Computer Science Engineering department, two candidates appeared for the interview and were selected. In Electrical Engineering, for the four posts vacant, four candidates were interviewed and two were selected.
The situation was similar in Swami Sarvanand Giri Panjab University Regional Centre, Hoshiarpur, where for the two posts each in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering no candidate turned up for the interview.
In the H S Judge Institute of Dental Sciences, there are three posts of professors and six of readers lying vacant. Though the posts were advertised, no one applied. There are two posts of senior lecturers, for which one person applied and was selected.
The Director of the institute, Dr K Gauba said the posts at the senior level were vacant in the institute. “The private institutes are luring away those in the medical profession. The pay given by them is many times more than given in government-run institutes where the payscales are fixed and transparent. Also, those recruited need to attend classes for a few days in a month. There is no problem when it comes to hiring lecturers,” he said.
Some posts have been advertised for as many as six times. University teachers are of the opinion that the government needs to change its policies if it wants to retain experts.
Even in the courses that have been started recently finding faculty has become difficult. In Medical Physics, the only candidate for one post was not selected. For one post in Nanotechnology, two candidates were interviewed but were not selected.
Source: Express News Service