COIMBATORE: Around 250 assistant professors of arts and science colleges affiliated with Bharathiar University are upset with the delay in promoting them to associate professors.
They have been waiting for qualification approval for associate professor for more than two years. The approval process has not taken off even after the appointment of a new registrar, they alleged.
An assistant professor at a private college in Erode district told the TNIE that a faculty member is eligible to become an associate professor with 12 years of experience in the assistant professor position.
"If we apply for promotion to associate professor through our college and all criteria are met, the college promotes the assistant professor. The teacher's application is then sent to the university where a committee scrutinises and approves the qualification," she explained.
"I had applied in April 2024 along with three colleagues, but had not received any communication from the university and do not know the current status of the application," she said.
Another assistant professor, D Murthy (name changed) said that becoming an associate professor is a recognition of their work.
"An assistant professor can guide only four PhD scholars, whereas as an associate professor, we can guide six PhD scholars. Being an associate professor also carries more weight in job-related matters. Priority is given in areas such as appointment as an external examiner and membership of subject committees. In particular, when we are promoted to associate, our salary may increase slightly in college," he said.
Association of University Teachers, Zone IV, Chairman A Balasankar said that if they are promoted as associate professors, their academic performance and research activities may improve and enable them to publish more research papers, which will help their performance in the NIRF rankings.
"Besides, as per Government Order (GO) 5 issued in 2021, a PhD, published research papers, and a satisfactory certificate from the college on Academic Performance Indicators (APIs) under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) are now mandatory for promoting assistant professors to associate professors," he said.
He pointed out that the university, however, has not clarified whether GO 5 has been implemented for assistant professors in colleges, leaving them in a dilemma.
"Moreover, around 250 applications for qualification approval are pending with the university. Hence, the university should speed up the process of clearing these approvals for teaching faculty by forming a committee," he urged.
When contacted, registrar R Rajavel told TNIE that he would soon form a committee for qualification approval based on GO 5 and that the process would begin shortly.
The story is reported by N Dhamotharan of The New Indian Express
