Parliament Question: Vacancies in Higher Educational Institutions

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2120 ANSWERED ON 11.03.2026 Vacancies in Higher Educational Institutions 2120 Ms. Sushmita Dev: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has estimated the time required to fill all sanctioned vacancies of Vice- Chancellors, Registrars, teaching and non-teaching staff in Central Universities, IITs, NITs, IIMs and other Central Higher Educational Institutions; (b) whether any time-bound roadmap or deadline has been fixed to achieve 100 per cent filling of sanctioned posts, if so, the details thereof; (c) if no such timeline exists, the reasons for the continued absence of a definite recruitment schedule despite large-scale and long-pending vacancies; and (d) whether Government acknowledges that the lack of a clear timeline has prolonged administrative paralysis and academic disruption in several institutions? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) to (d) The Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) under Ministry of Education including Central Universities, IITs, NITs and IIMs are statutory autonomous organizations established under respective Central Acts of Parliament and governed by provisions of the Acts/Statutes/Ordinances/Regulations made thereunder. As autonomous institutions, faculty recruitment is done within the institutions itself, in accordance with their Acts and Regulations. The recruitment powers vests with the respective Board of Governors/Executive Committee/Board of Management and no active role of the Ministry is involved therein. Occurring of vacancies and filling thereof is a continuous process. The vacancies arise due to promotion, retirement, resignation, death, opening of new institutions, schemes or projects, andadditional requirements on account of enhanced students’ strength and expansion of capacity in existing institutions. In August, 2021, all CHEIs under Ministry of Education were requested to undertake special drive to fill backlog vacancies in their institutions in Mission Mode. The CHEIs undertook special recruitment drives to fill the vacancies including of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). In September 2022, Ministry of Education had also exhorted all the CHEIs to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode. In October 2025, all the CHEIs have again been requested to fill up all the backlog vacancies in Mission Mode within a period of one year. From September 2022, all CHEIs including Central Universities (CUs), IITs, NITs and IIMs have undertaken Mission Mode recruitment drive to fill the vacancies. Up to 24.01.2026 (i.e. the date of last Rozgar Mela), a total number of 30720 posts have been filled up by all CHEIs, including 17878 faculty positions, in Mission Mode. Out of these 30720 posts, during the said period, CUs, IITs, NITs and IIMs collectively have filled up 28666 posts including 16931 faculty positions. In Centrally financed Higher Education Institutions, measures have been taken to attract quality faculties which includes year-round open advertisements, recruitment through search-cum- selection procedures, special recruitment drive, mission mode recruitment and invitation to alumni/scientists/faculty, etc. The faculty recruitment processes are carried out by the CHEIs by inviting applications in a transparent manner, as part of a multi-step and robust screening process. The Acts and Statutes of various institutions specify the composition of selection committees, authorities responsible for recruitment of various levels of faculty, provision of independent subject experts and Visitor’s nominees etc. so as to ensure transparency and academic rigour in recruitments. UGC has launched a common portal ‘CU-CHAYAN’ for faculty recruitment, making provision for listing of vacancies/ advertisements/ jobs across all Central Universities, thus making the entire recruitment process more transparent and accessible. To enhance the quality of higher education, the Government of India has undertaken several measures, including the provision of quality infrastructure, strengthening of the research and innovation ecosystem, promotion of industry–academia linkages etc. As the result of these concerted efforts, India has witnessed a massive jump in its Global Innovation Index (GII) ranking from 66th position in 2013 to 40th in 2023. India is at 6th position (in 2022) in number of patentapplications from 8th position (in 2012) as per WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Indicators. India also occupies 3rd rank in terms of number of Ph.Ds awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) as per ‘Research and Development statistics at a glance 2022-23’ published by Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology. 54 Indian Institutions have been ranked in the QS World University Ranking (QS WUR) 2026. This is India’s highest ever representation, marking a growth from 11 institutions in QS WUR 2015 to 54 in QS WUR 2026. Eight Indian institutions have been ranked for the first time, which is the highest number for any country in this edition, both within the G20 and globally, thus underscoring sustained policy initiatives, strengthened research and innovation capacity, and the steadily rising global profile of India’s higher education system. *****