Karnataka universities rely heavily on guest lecturers amid faculty shortage

Bengaluru: Inability on the government’s part to fill sanctioned teaching posts at state-run universities has left these institutions over-reliant on guest lecturers. In fact, at some universities, there are four guest lecturers for every permanent faculty member, according to government data.  

Koppal University, for instance, has a mere 12 sanctioned faculty posts, but employs 56 guest lecturers, which is a staggering 466% above its sanctioned faculty strength. It’s not just new universities; even older institutions such as the University of Mysore (UoM) and Karnatak University in Dharwad are predominantly dependent on guest lecturers.  

At UoM, guest lecturers account for 70% of the 571 sanctioned posts, while the number of guest lecturers employed at Kuvempu University is 157% higher than the number of sanctioned posts.  

Owing to the freeze on recruitment of permanent faculty members, state-run varsities have been left with no option but to enlist the services of guest lecturers – a condition that has prevailed for the past 15 years. 

Data sourced from the Department of Higher Education revealed that 12 of the 32 public universities’ dependence on guest faculty is more than 100%. Incidentally, several of these universities have hired more guest lecturers than they are allowed to, invariably resulting in the universities having to bear a steadily increasing financial burden.  

A Vice-Chancellor of a state-run university pointed out that enrolment for a few programmes at the universities was so high that the authorities were compelled to hire guest lecturers to meet the demand. “The government has not revised the number of sanctioned posts. Universities must hire guest lecturers if the student numbers are high,” said the VC.  

Replying to a question on the subject in the Legislative Council, Minister for Higher Education Dr M C Sudhakar said that some universities were using internal resources to pay the salaries of guest lecturers. “Some universities are expending more than 50% of their internal resources on guest lecturers’ salaries, staff and other office expenses,” he said.