NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Education, Sukanta Mazumdar, informed the Rajya Sabha that the number of faculty vacancies in Central Universities stood at 25.44%  in 2025.

In a written response submitted in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday to a query from MP  Anil Kumar Yadav Mandadi, Mazumdar said, “There has been a substantial increase in the sanctioned faculty posts to 18,951 in 2025 from 16,324 in 2014. Despite the 16% increase in total sanctioned faculty posts, the faculty vacancies reduced to 25.44% in the year 2025 from 36.97% average vacancies in the central universities during the period 2009-2014.”

He said that the occurrence of vacancies and filling them up was a continuous process.

“The vacancies arise due to retirement, resignation and additional requirements on account of enhanced students strength.”

The Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission (UGC) regularly monitor the institutions and the and the Central Universities have been directed to fill up the vacancies in regular mode, he added.

Elaborating on other steps taken, the Minister said the UGC launched a unified recruitment portal, CU-Chayan, on April 2, 2023, to provide a common platform for listing of vacancies/advertisements/jobs across all central universities.

The universities have also been instructed to publish rolling advertisements on their websites throughout the year to address the difficulties faced in getting eligible candidates.

The mandatory condition of a PhD for Assistant Professor has also been relaxed. Further, through special recruitment drives started in September 2022, more than 8,320 teaching posts have been filled in the Central Universities till date, he added.