Govt officials to get to teach at varsities under new category

Eminent academics, government officials and other known persons from different fields will be able to teach at universities under a new category, which higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission (UGC), has designated as distinguished visiting faculty.

An eminent person, who teaches under this category can get ₹5,000 per an hour-long lecture, the UGC said. In a letter to vice chancellors, UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said academics, government officers, representatives of industry, and other eminent personalities, who have made a significant contribution to the knowledge in the concerned, allied, relevant or applied disciplines, are eligible to be invited as distinguished visiting faculty.

The distinguished visiting faculty should be from outside a concerned university, the letter said. It added proposals to invite distinguished visiting faculty may be initiated by the concerned school, department or centre.

The invitations shall be extended with the approval of the vice chancellor or head of an institution.

“The general development fund, block grants, other sources of the universities, higher education institutions may be used for paying the honorarium,” the UGC letter said.