TV
Odisha’s higher education sector is facing a major staffing crisis, with 1,404 teaching posts lying vacant across 17 state-run universities, according to a written reply given by Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj in the state Legislative Assembly on Friday.
Also Read: Odisha universities struggle with faculty crunch as over 60 percent posts remain vacant
The data reveals that vacancies include 260 Professors, 453 Associate Professors, and 669 Assistant Professors, highlighting the severe shortage of qualified faculty in key academic positions.
Ravenshaw University tops the chart with the highest number of vacancies, followed by Utkal University, indicating that even premier institutions are grappling with this manpower shortfall.
In addition to academic roles, the universities are also burdened by administrative gaps, with 2,286 non-teaching posts remaining unfilled across the same institutions. This dual shortage of teaching and non-teaching staff is likely to impact academic quality, research output, and student services.
Education experts are urging swift recruitment drives and policy-level interventions to strengthen the higher education ecosystem in the State and prevent long-term damage to academic standards.
In his written reply, the Minister stated, “There are a total of 82 government colleges in the State, of which 66 are government-run Degree Colleges and 16 are the Colleges of Teacher Education (CTE). In the Degree Colleges, there are 1,916 OES Cadre faculties and in the CTEs, there are 305 OES Cadre (TE) faculties.”
“Against this, 491 faculty positions remain vacant in government-run Degree Colleges and 163 positions remain vacant in the CTEs,” the Minister expressed.
“Besides, 1,753 guest faculty have been engaged for the academic year 2025-26 to teach at Plus III level in the government Degree Colleges. Similarly, around 81 guest faculty have been engaged for the same period to teach in the CTEs,” the Minister added.
