Chennai: Tamil Nadu’s reputation as a frontrunner in higher education is under severe threat as 13 universities functioning under the state’s higher education department are grappling with severe faculty vacancies, with some campuses having lost nearly all of their senior academic leadership. Incidentally, 15 state universities are functioning without a vice-chancellor.
At the University of Madras, one of India’s oldest institutions, 67.6% of faculty posts are vacant — 67.9% at assistant professor level, 85% at associate professor level, and 43% vacancies at the professor level. "The situation will turn grimmer as 11 more faculty members will retire this year," said a university official, adding that over a dozen departments are currently run by in-charge faculty members.
The situation is worse at the Madurai Kamaraj University, where there is a 96% vacancy rate at the professor level as only two of the 50 sanctioned professor posts are occupied. Associate professor positions, too, are 86.1% vacant. "With such a skeletal leadership structure, academic oversight, doctoral supervision, and research guidance are effectively paralysed," a university official said.
At the Bharathidasan University, 92.9% of professor posts remain vacant. At the entry level, Thiruvalluvar University has 74.4% of its assistant professor posts unfilled — the steepest junior faculty shortage among the 13 universities.
Anna University, the state’s premier technical institution, has an overall vacancy rate of 34.1%, but the gaps are concentrated in senior positions: 67.5% of associate professor posts and 62.6% of professor positions are vacant. About 192 assistant professor slots are also unfilled.
"The shortages threaten to undermine the institution's role in driving Tamil Nadu's engineering and industrial ambitions," said E Balagurusamy, former vice-chancellor of Anna University.
Meanwhile, Annamalai University and Tamil Nadu Open University are exceptions, reporting no vacancies. Besides, Annamalai University even had an overstaffing problem when it came under state government control in 2013. "After much effort, we have managed to reduce the excess staff," said a higher education official.
While Alagappa University has 80.6% of its professor posts vacant, the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University has 75% of associate professor posts unfilled. Across campuses, institutions are increasingly relying on temporary or guest faculty. "Fifteen state universities are functioning without a vice-chancellor, and the faculty shortage is having a severe impact on our national and international rankings," said the registrar of a state university, on condition of anonymity.
According to SP Thyagarajan, former vice-chancellor of Madras University, the data underscores a structural failure that has been building for years. "Recruitment freezes, bureaucratic delays, and policy inertia have converged to create a vacuum that now threatens to erode the very foundations of Tamil Nadu’s higher education system," he said.
When contacted, higher education secretary Arun Roy told TNIE that the department would soon consolidate vacancy figures and request the Teachers Recruitment Board to begin recruitment.