Amid concerns over new parameters govt may seek revision of new rules for faculty hiring to varsities

As universities are asked to re-issue advertisements, concerns are raised by many that the newly issued parameters for teacher recruitment are difficult to meet for many new professors.

Maharashtra’s Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil, in a media interaction on Wednesday, spoke about the concerns as he said, “The marking system prescribed in the revised rules of faculty recruitment is feared to have an impact on the number of job applications. As varsities are now instructed to reissue advertisements seeking applications for faculty recruitment as per the revised rules, we will wait and see the response. And if there are fewer applications because of strict parameters, we will approach the Governor of Maharashtra, in his capacity as the Chancellor to all state universities, seeking a review of those parameters.”

The higher and technical education department of the state is expecting that universities will have complete information on the number of applications received by mid-November.

The decision on whether there is a need to review the parameters will be taken after that.
The recruitment process was stalled due to absence of clear rules for recruitment. The revised rules were finally declared on October 6 and universities have been asked to seek fresh applications from those interested along with allowing old applicants to submit revised applications.

As per the revised rules, the weightage given to interview performance has been reduced from 40 per cent to 25 per cent. The remaining 75% weightage will now be given to academic, teaching, and research credentials (ATR), which include qualifications, teaching experience, published work, and innovation.

Applicants must score over 50 out of 75 in the ATR evaluation to qualify for the interview stage.

Further, marks on academic record will be based on the institution where the degree was obtained by the candidates — for example an IIT graduate will score more than a state-run university graduate.

Meanwhile, Patil also declared that the recruitment process on 5,012 teaching positions in 1,172 colleges will also start now which has been pending for technical clarity over definition of workload.

Two CETs in state

From the upcoming admission cycle, two CETs — MHT-CET and MBA/MMS CET — will be held twice for students’ convenience.

Candidates will have the choice to appear for both or one as per their convenience.
For admissions to academic session 2026-27, both attempts will be held between March to May 2026.

However, for the academic session 2027-28, the two attempts will be spread over a long period, as per the structure of JEE, the national level engineering entrance test.

JJ J J School varsity to open sub-campus

Sir J J School of Art Architecture and Design, which is now a De-Novo Deemed University, is planning to open a sub-campus in Mumbai’s Vikholi. The varsity will submit a proposal in this regard to the state government, with plans to offer some of its courses at this different location. While the varsity already has a 5acre land in Vikhroli, the process of starting an operational sub0-campus is expected to take at least five years.