Reshma Ravishanker

Attempting to boost industry-academic connect, the University Grants Commission (UGC) is throwing open positions for ‘Professor in Practice’ who are experts in specific fields willing to teach students.

These professors who would be engaged in value addition in the higher educational institutions across the country would not necessarily have a formal academic qualification to teach.  

This, the UGC believes is in alignment with the National Education Policy 2020’s vision to transform higher education by focusing on skill-based education to meet needs of the industry and the economy.

A higher educational institution is allowed to employ professors of practice up to 10 % of the total sanctioned posts. These posts will be exclusive of the sanctioned posts of a university/college

Among the eligibility criteria, applicants must be “Distinguished experts who have made remarkable contributions in their professions from various fields such as engineering, science, technology, entrepreneurship, commerce, social sciences, media, literature, fine arts, civil services, armed forces, legal profession, and public administration among others. Those who have proven expertise in their specific profession or role with at least 15 years of service/experience, preferably at a senior level, will be eligible for Professor of Practice.”

These experts will also be exempted from the requirement of publications and other eligibility criteria stipulated for the recruitment of faculty members at the Professor level.

They will be engaged in development and designing of courses and curriculum, introduce new courses and deliver lectures as per institutional policies, encourage students in innovation and entrepreneurship projects and provide mentorship, focus on enhanced industry-academia collaborations besides carry out joint industry-academia research activities.

These professors’ tenure must not exceed four years and another year is permitted only in exceptional cases, the UGC norms direct. 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta – Vice Chancellor of World University of Design commented “Running an institute that has creativity at its core, I am extremely elated with the latest draft guidelines laid out by UGC. In the art, architecture & design domain, It is not just a significant development at bringing students to terms with knowledge based on practice and making their learning experiential but is essential in nurturing design aspirants to be industry-ready. At any juncture in our academic lives we all face a wide lapse between theory and what actually exists; which is why the possibility of bringing in experts with enriching experience in a domain as ‘Professors of Practice’ raises scope for chiseling out the best in students. First hand experiences of design practitioners, artists, weavers, craftsmen, and industry professionals ought to make a strong impression in the minds of aspirants as they idolize them in their hearts. Even otherwise, design being a new field of higher education in India, masters and doctoral level education is almost unheard of. The top two design institutions of the country i.e. NID & NIFT were diploma awarding till recently. Meeting UGCs generic faculty norms is near-impossible in this young but emerging field. With this new value intervention made at higher education levels, we reckon that we have some newfound vested powers that can be deployed to raise bars and up the level of our students exponentially. This is a game changer and will give an edge to Indian institutes to prepare their pupils as per global standards.”