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For the first time, universities in Andhra Pradesh are taking up recruitment of assistant professors in different disciplines through a common written test.
Till now there has been no practice of holding a written examination for these positions anywhere in the country and the recruitment is done only on the basis of a personal interview.
Though the University Grants Commission (UGC) conducts a National Eligibility Test (NET) to declare a candidate eligible for university positions, it has not been mandatory for those who have Ph.D with a certain cut off date.
But now, the screening test has been made mandatory for the entry level assistant professor posts in the State. Those who qualify the test will have to clear a personal interview.
The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) will be conducting the test on behalf of over a dozen State universities which have notified about 1,400 vacancies about two months ago.
According to a APPSC notification, the written examination with negative marks for wrong answers will be held for different subjects in the first and second weeks of April for those who had already applied.
Mixed views
There is mixed reaction from the candidates on the new system. “There has been no transparency in university recruitments. I hope this system will encourage merit,” Victor Babu, a Ph.D scholar from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam told BusinessLine.
However, some senior aspirants who had already obtained their Ph.D have some reservations. “We have already cleared the NET conducted by UGC. What is the need to ask us to undergo one more screening test?’’ questioned N Venkat Rao who completed his doctoral degree from Nagarjuna University.
Though undivided Andhra Pradesh had 40 public universities besides two premier central universities in Hyderabad, among others, it had lost many of them such as the University of Hyderabad and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) which are located in Hyderabad.
The focus of State government since the bifurcation of the state, however, has been on attracting private investments in higher education to make Amaravati a hub of private universities and has invited over 10 private universities to set up campuses. Some of them, including SRM and VIT have been already functional and also recruiting teaching and non-teaching staff.
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