Bhubaneswar: Amid a controversy over its name change, Ravenshaw University is grappling with an acute shortage of regular teachers, among other issues. Out of 267 posts sanctioned for the university, 158 teaching posts are lying vacant.
The university is managing the shortage with guest faculty members.
In the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the university could not get into the top-200 institutes despite receiving an ‘A++’ grade from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).In the university category, it could only manage a place in the NIRF’s 151-200 rank band.
Official sources said the teacher shortage and poor research output are among the two factors leading to the poor NIRF ranking. Satyabrata Muduli, a second year postgraduate student of the university, said many guest faculty members are also PhD scholars and take leave for their research work. “During their off days, no other teacher fills their place. It creates problems for us. It would not have created any problem had the university appointed regular faculty members,” he added.
Amiya Bhushan Tripathy, an alumnus and former Odisha DGP, said efforts should be made to fill up vacant teaching and non-teaching posts of the university instead of changing the name of the institution.
“Shortage of faculty members is a headache for the university. It should be addressed immediately,” he added. He said research work cannot be carried out without regular faculty members. “Guest faculty cannot guide PhD students. Our research output is not improving like other old institutes of the country. Why don’t we think about these problems? Ravenshaw University’s heritage building needs maintenance. Govt should focus on that,” he added.
Sidhartha Rath, an alumnus and former member of the students’ union, claimed the name change issue was raised to divert attention from major problems affecting higher education. “Ravenshaw University does not need a change of name. It needs the appointment of regular teachers, an increase in sanctioned posts and improved research output. The university needs more debate on its problems rather than a name change,” he added.
Vice-chancellor Sanjay K Nayak refused to comment on the teacher shortage issue as well as the name change row.
According to official data, more than 1,000 regular teaching posts are lying vacant in state public universities under the higher education department. The institutes are facing difficulties in carrying out teaching, research and other academic work due to the large-scale vacancies.

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