‘Faculty shortage main reason for fall in AU ranking’

Not one permanent teaching staff member recruited in a decade

A number of factors, including shortage of teaching staff, have pulled down Andhra University in the recently released NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) ranking. In the overall ranking, AU slipped to the 48th position in the current year from 36th in 2020. In the ranking under universities, it stood 24 against 19 and under the engineering colleges category, its rank fell to 74 from 69. One of the main reasons for the oldest and the biggest State-owned university’s fall in ranking is said to be the shortage of teaching staff. The university has not recruited a single permanent teaching staff member in the last one decade and those present have retired over the years, reducing the staff strength from the sanctioned 1,200 to 341. Till about 2020, the permanent teaching staff strength was around 356 and at present it is 241. The teacher-student ratio has fallen from 64 to 58.