India’s Higher Education Crisis: The Rise of Contractual Faculty

Renewable contracts, leave-vacancy hiring, quality parameters- these are not gaps in policy. They are the policy. Higher education governance in India manages a structural problem through quiet procedural defaults rather than policy – precarity, here, is not a failure of administration but a form of it.

A student at a Delhi College may be taught, graded, and mentored for a full semester by a teacher who doesn’t know if they’ll have a job next semester. The insecurity extends beyond employment to basic dignity. “Even non-teaching staff do not respect contractual faculty equally”, says a central university guest faculty member. This is no exception; it is how a large share of India’s higher education institutions run, raising questions of governance, equity, and accountability.

While, as per the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines, teachers on contract can be engaged to fulfil immediate requirements of the college, such appointments should not exceed 10% of the total faculty positions in a college or university. However, ground analysis indicates a persistent dependence on non-permanent teaching staff.

India’s higher education relies on several categories of non-permanent staff.¹ Guest faculty are paid per lecture, with UGC norms capping at ₹1,500 and ₹50,000 monthly, without benefits.² Contractual Assistant Professors are placed on a formal pay scale, fixed terms, with no claim to permanency.³ Ad-hoc positions run on consolidated, year-bound salary with no guaranteed continuation.⁴ The result is a workforce that may be temporary in its employment status but performs functions that are continuous and essential to the institution.

The governance challenge is visible in numbers. As of January 2025, 28.56% of sanctioned teaching posts across central universities remained vacant. This shortage inverts by seniority: only 17.97% of assistant professor posts were empty against 56.18% at the professor level.⁶ Even advertised vacancies offer little certainty; for instance, in 2025, Jamia Millia Islamia reduced departmental posts days after notification.⁷ State universities reflect the same fragility. An RTI in Haryana found that 4,902 of 8,137 posts were vacant, while hiring drives in State Universities face government freezes.⁸ In Mumbai, colleges advertise “ad-hoc teachers for the academic year,” turning a stopgap into standing policy.⁴

The equity problem begins with a contradiction: teachers perform comparable academic work yet face unequal employment conditions.¹¹ A central university guest faculty member says- permanent colleagues can supervise PhD students and access medical claims while he cannot. Caste widens this inequality. The Parliamentary Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reported in 2025 that Delhi University’s reservation-roster implementation was marred by discrepancies that had deprived SC/ST faculty of legitimate posts. The Committee called for identification of backlog vacancies and special recruitment measures. Universities look fair on paper by applying reservation rules to unfilled permanent posts, while temporary hiring bypasses equity mandates.¹³

Gender adds another layer. As of November 2025, Women comprise under 30% of central university faculty, with a 25.4% vacancy rate and the gap widening among informal workers.¹⁴ One contractual faculty member explained that permanent faculty “generally have clearly defined provisions regarding maternity leave, while ad-hoc staff may be required to negotiate with the concerned authorities.”

There is no dedicated institutional mechanism to track grievances of non-permanent faculty. DU teachers’ association documented large-scale displacement of ad-hoc teachers, roughly 4,500 without permanent status as of 2025 – none requiring justification.¹⁷ Although in July 2025, the Delhi High Court condemned DU for substituting regular employment with ad-hoc appointments, the ruling remained unenforced by May 2026.²⁰ The Supreme Court shows similar inconsistency, granting pay parity to contractual professors recruited transparently in 2025 but denying the same in 2026.¹¹

This shows a contrast where Courts take years to act, whereas administrative orders freeze or lift recruitments within months.⁹ Even UGC’s 2025 draft counts ad-hoc and contractual service toward promotion if pay and selection matched a regular Assistant Professor’s, a bar most cannot meet.²³ While NEP 2020 names service conditions and institutional accountability as foundational goals, these commitments sit uneasily with a workforce whose employment remains temporary.¹⁶

These patterns point to deeper questions about how the system is governed. The cost of a post left vacant falls first on those without security to refuse the added workload, leaving a workforce too insecure to hold institutions accountable. From there it spreads, weakening institutional memory, mentorship, and research continuity.²⁴ Renewable contracts, leave-vacancy hiring, quality parameters- these are not gaps in policy. They are the policy. Higher education governance in India manages a structural problem through quiet procedural defaults rather than policy – precarity, here, is not a failure of administration but a form of it, and India has simply chosen, procedurally and repeatedly, not to solve this.

(Manasi Srivastava is a TRIP intern)

References

1. Wahab A. Conditions of ad hoc, contractual and guest faculty. Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2919 [Internet]. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Government of India; 2026 Mar 18 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/270/AU2919_WZMt8w.pdf?source=pqars&utm_
2. University Grants Commission. Revised guideline: enhancement of honorarium of Guest Faculty [Internet]. New Delhi: University Grants Commission; 2019 Jan 28 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/5315244_Revised-Guideline-Guest-Faculty.pdf
3. Jamia Millia Islamia. Local advertisement no. 18/2025-26: requirement of Asstt. Professor (Contractual)/Guest Faculty [Internet]. New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia; 2026 Feb 02 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://jmi.ac.in/upload/advertisement/jobs_Advt_No18_2026february2.pdf?hl=en-IN

4. University of Mumbai, “Ad Hoc Teacher Recruitment 2024,” notification for 146 posts across colleges/departments/centres, Academic Year 2024-25, published via the university’s AdHoc Appointment Portal (muappointment-adhoc.mu.ac.in).  https://www.indgovtjobs.in/2024/07/university-of-mumbai-ad-hoc-teacher.html 
5. Delhi University restricts guest faculty appointments without leave vacancy https://www.indiatvnews.com/education/news/delhi-university-restricts-guest-faculty-appointments-without-leave-vacancy-education-news-latest-updates-2024-08-07-945771
6. Rajya Sabha Secretariat. Three hundred and sixty fourth report: demands for grants 2025-26 of the Department of Higher Education [Internet]. New Delhi: Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; 2025  Mar 26 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://sansad.in/getFile/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/ReportFile/16/198/364_2025_3_15.pdf?source=rajyasabha
7. Parthiban A. JMI cuts assistant professor, guest faculty vacancies, updates eligibility criteria [Internet]. Careers360; 2025 Jul 10 [cited 2026 Aug 12]. Available from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.careers360.com/jmi-recruitment-2025-cuts-assistant-professor-guest-faculty-vacancies-revised-updates-eligibility-criteria/amp
8. Deswal D. 4,902 posts vacant in govt colleges: RTI [Internet]. Chandigarh: The Tribune; 2026 Jan 30 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/4-9k-posts-vacant-in-govt-colleges-across-state-rti/amp
9. Saini R. After 2-month freeze, MDU, Rohtak, allowed to resume recruitment [Internet]. Chandigarh: The Tribune; 2025 Sep 25 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/after-2-month-freeze-mdu-allowed-to-resume-recruitment/
10. National Institutional Ranking Framework. Faculty-Student Ratio with emphasis on permanent faculty (FSR) [Internet]. New Delhi: Ministry of Education, Government of India [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.nirfindia.org/Docs/1B.pdf

11. Shah Samir Bharatbhai & Ors. v State of Gujarat & Ors. 2025 INSC 1026. Supreme Court of India; 2025 Aug 22. https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2024/1977/1977_2024_7_1502_63536_Judgement_22-Aug-2025.pdf

12. Sethuraman V, Arunkannan AP. Caste, contract, and the permanent wait [Internet]. Frontline; 2026 Feb 21 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/tamil-nadu-guest-faculty-precarity-higher-education-crisis/article70659878.ece/amp/
13. Press Trust of India. DU’s reservation roster recasting marred by ‘discrepancies’, SC, ST posts lost: Parliamentary Committee [Internet]. Careers360; 2025 Aug 11 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://news.careers360.com/delhi-university-reservation-roster-recasting-marred-by-discrepancies-sc-st-posts-lost-parliamentary-committee/amp
14. Not even 30% of central university teachers are women; 25.4% posts vacant: Education ministry data… Read more at: https://news.careers360.com/central-university-teachers-30pc-women-posts-vacancies-sc-st-obc-faculty-recruitment-jobs-education-ministry-parliament
15. Kumari P. Contractual trap: How India’s professors are paid less, promised less, and kept insecure [Internet]. Education Post; 2025 Sep 16 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://educationpost.in/news/education/contractual-trap-how-indias-professors-are-paid-less-promised-less-and-kept-insecure
16. Ministry of Education, Government of India. National Education Policy 2020 [Internet]. New Delhi: Ministry of Education; 2020 Jul 29 [cited 2026 Aug 12]. Available from:: https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/nep_update/National_Education_Policy_2020_en.pdf
17. On “large-scale displacement” of ad-hoc teachers (DUTA/AISA characterization, following the Hindu College case): Careers360 – https://news.careers360.com/delhi-university-du-hindu-college-ad-hoc-teacher-suicide-jobs-recruitment-duta-aap-sfi-aisa-protest/amp
18. On the ~4,500 ad-hoc teachers estimate university-wide: same source (DUTA estimate cited in the article above) – https://news.careers360.com/delhi-university-du-hindu-college-ad-hoc-teacher-suicide-jobs-recruitment-duta-aap-sfi-aisa-protest/amp
19. Supporting/background on the scale and lack of regularisation mechanism: Janata Weekly – https://janataweekly.org/articles/the-cruelty-of-delhi-universitys-ad-hoc-teacher-system
20. Namita Khare & Anr. v University of Delhi & Ors. W.P.(C) 8531/2022. Delhi High Court; 2025 Jul 11[cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://delhihighcourt.nic.in/app/showFileJudgment/67911072025CW85312022_182555.pdf
21. Hindustan Times. DU teachers stage protest demanding regularisation of ad hoc faculty [Internet]. New Delhi: Hindustan Times; 2026 May 16 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/du-teachers-stage-protest-demanding-regularisation-of-ad-hoc-faculty-101778846979278-amp.html
22. Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit & Anr. v Unnikrishna Pillai J. SLP(C) Nos. 17549-17553/2022. Supreme Court of India; 2026 Mar 18. Reported in: Kaushik A. Supreme Court rejects pay parity for guest lecturers, mandates honorarium as per UGC norms [Internet]. Verdictum; 2026 Mar 18 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.verdictum.in/court-updates/supreme-court/rejects-pay-parity-guest-lecturers-mandates-honorarium-ugc-norms-1610173

23. University Grants Commission. Draft UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers and Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2025 [Internet]. New Delhi: University Grants Commission; 2025 Jan 6 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Available from: https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews/3045759_Draft-Regulation-Minimum-Qualifications-for-Appointment-and-Promotion-of-Teachers-and-Academic-Staff-in-Universities-and-Colleges-and-Measures-for-the-Maintenance-of-Standards-in-HE-Regulations-2025.pdf
24. Patgiri R. Contractualisation of academic jobs has severe consequences for India’s higher education [Internet]. New Delhi: ThePrint; 2024 Jul 26 [cited 2026 Aug 9]. Originally published in: Economic and Political Weekly. 2024;59(28). Available from: https://theprint.in/opinion/contractualisation-of-academic-jobs-has-severe-consequences-for-indias-higher-education/2189125/