Telangana university staff seek recruitment to 3,000 vacant faculty posts

The Telangana Schools and Technical Colleges Employees Association and the University Teachers Association today, Friday, October 17, 2026, urged the state government to fill 3,000 vacant faculty posts in state universities and regularise 1,200 contract faculty members. The associations highlighted that a significant shortage of faculty is adversely affecting the quality of education, academic activities, research, and students’ futures in Hyderabad and across Telangana.

This appeal comes amidst reports that over 70% of teaching posts in universities across Telangana are vacant, with many institutions reportedly functioning with only 20-25% of their sanctioned faculty strength. The delay in recruitment has been ongoing for more than a year since the State government issued guidelines for direct recruitment.

Concerns over Faculty Shortages and Proposed Recruitment

The Telangana Schools and Technical Colleges Employees Association expressed concern over the proposed recruitment of only 500 faculty members when approximately 3,000 posts are vacant in state universities. A Santhosh Kumar, president of the association, stated that recruiting only 500 faculty members would leave a substantial number of vacancies unfilled and further aggravate the problems facing higher education. He also urged the government to review contractual appointments and discontinue those no longer required, in accordance with applicable rules and due process, while ensuring essential academic activities are not disrupted.

The association emphasised that the current shortage of faculty is severely impacting the quality of education, academic activities, research, and the future prospects of students. Many universities are heavily reliant on contractual faculty members to manage their academic responsibilities due to the lack of regular recruitment for over 15 years, during which hundreds of professors have retired.

Demands for Regularisation of Contract Faculty

A Parshuram, president of the University Teachers Association, highlighted that about 1,200 contract faculty members have been working in state universities for the past three decades. He demanded that the government must first absorb these faculty members before undertaking fresh recruitment. The association is also advocating for equal pay for equal labor and retirement benefits for contract faculty members, along with deploying UGC 7th Pay Commission pay scales for contract assistant professors.

The dependence on contractual faculty members has become a significant issue, with these individuals managing core academic responsibilities in the absence of permanent staff. The regularisation of these long-serving faculty members is seen as a crucial step to stabilise academic operations and provide them with fair compensation and benefits.

Stalled Recruitment and Policy Issues

Recruitment to teaching posts in Telangana universities has remained stalled for more than a year after the State government issued guidelines. The Telangana Congress government had issued direct recruitment guidelines for teaching vacancies in 12 universities. Previously, the BRS government had approved 2,825 vacancies for recruitment in 15 State universities. The Telangana State Universities Common Recruitment Board Bill 2022, intended to constitute a common recruitment board, was passed but next referred to the President by the then Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, and has not yet been approved.

G.O.Ms.No.21, dated April 4, 2025, detailed uniform guidelines for the recruitment of teaching faculty in the cadre of Assistant Professor. However, the government has not yet made a decision on this GO MS 21 and the overall recruitment process. Teacher job aspirants have also raised concerns over the allotment of 10 marks for PhD qualifications as per GO MS 21, which is significantly lower than the 30 marks typically allotted as per UGC norms.

Medical Colleges Also Face Faculty Crunch

The Telangana Senior Resident Doctors Association (T-SRDA) has also demanded urgent measures to address the shortage of teaching faculty in Government Medical Colleges (GMC). A T-SRDA statement indicated that the Director of Medical Education (DME), A. Narendra Kumar, assured that steps would be taken to fill vacant faculty posts in medical colleges through the job calendar. The DME also stated that the government would consider providing special incentives for faculty working in peripheral institutions.

This highlights a broader crisis across various educational sectors in Telangana, where the lack of timely recruitment is impacting both general and professional higher education institutions. The crisis is particularly severe in rural universities such as Telangana University, Satavahana University, Palamuru University, Mahatma Gandhi University, and Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies.

Written by Nishit Kumar

Nishit Kumar is a senior EdTech industry leader with over a decade of experience in building and scaling education platforms, shaping their product, content, and growth strategy. At FindMyCollege, Nishit oversees content and editorial strategy, guiding topic selection and content frameworks to ensure accuracy, relevance, and student-first value across the website.

View all posts →

Further reading

• Anganwadi recruitment 2026: apply for worker, helper posts in MP, UP, Telangana, Odisha
• APPSC Lecturer recruitment 2026 out for 160 posts: apply from 18 November
• IIT Hyderabad recruitment 2026: apply for contractual posts by October 30
• TMC Recruitment 2026 notification out for 57 posts, apply online before October 28
• APSSB NTME 2026 recruitment for 217 posts: apply online by 5 November