The Centre is contemplating sponsoring Indian students for post-doctoral courses in leading foreign universities on a condition that they should return to teach in government institutions here for a specified period.

“Our plan is to sponsor 300 candidates every year. We will gradually increase the number to 1,500,” an  official in the Human Resource Development Ministry told Deccan Herald.

The University Grants Commission (UGC), which is preparing the details of the scheme, will be the nodal agency to implement the programme. The ministry estimated that the cost of sponsorship will be between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh per candidate.

The move aims at meeting the severe shortage of faculties and researchers in the higher educational institutions in the country, the official said.“Faculty being the single most critical factor responsible for the overall quality and excellence in higher education, it is a matter of grave concern that a large number of teaching positions remain perennially vacant.

Non-availability of suitably qualified persons is one of the serious problems that needs to be addressed,” an UGC official said.

According to government records, while over 39 per cent faculty positions are vacant in central universities, nearly 33 per cent of the sanctioned faculty strength is lying vacant in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and about 35 per cent in the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

Besides, in engineering colleges approved by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), 19.25 per cent of faculty positions are vacant.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> National / by DHNS, New Delhi, October 06th, 2012