Public university policies on teacher recruitment and promotion clearly outline the minimum qualifications required for advancement from associate professor to professor. Under the existing guidelines, a teacher holding a PhD must have at least five years of experience as an associate professor at the university level to qualify for promotion (upgradation). In addition, the candidate must have a minimum of 12 years of total teaching experience. However, disregarding these policies, the University of Barisal recently completed a recruitment board process aimed at promoting 24 teachers to the rank of professor.
According to relevant sources, all the teachers considered for promotion have only three years of experience as associate professors. In other words, none of them meets the minimum five-year requirement. Meanwhile, against the 24 professor positions, the University Grants Commission has approved only two vacant posts. The remaining positions have no official approval.
Questions have therefore arisen over how the university authorities completed the process to promote such a large number of teachers to the rank of professor while ignoring the UGC’s unified policy guidelines. Sources say the promotions are being granted through special concessions in violation of established rules.
University sources said five teachers from the Department of Management Studies, four each from the Departments of Chemistry and Mathematics, and two from the Department of Sociology have been considered for promotion. In addition, one teacher each from the Departments of Computer Science and Engineering, Geology and Mining, Coastal Studies and Disaster Management, Public Administration, Soil and Environmental Science, Marketing, Accounting and Information Systems, Botany, and History has been included. Altogether, the recruitment board process has been completed to promote 24 teachers to the position of professor. However, none of them has the required five years of experience as associate professors, as stipulated by the rules. In this context, administrative and co-curricular responsibilities are being counted as teaching experience.
The promotions are being granted under the “Promotion Policy through Reclassification of Teachers’ Positions at the University of Barisal.” Although the university was established in 2011, there is still no syndicate-approved formal service statute. Moreover, even though the policy under which the upgradation is being approved also mentions that a PhD-holding associate professor must have at least four years of experience to qualify for promotion to professor. Yet none of the 24 candidates has more than three years of experience in the associate professor position.
Dr Md Abdul Kaium, an associate professor in the Department of Marketing, completed the process for promotion to professor. However, he has only three years of experience as an associate professor at the university. To meet the eligibility criteria, he has counted various administrative and co-curricular responsibilities — such as serving as provost, proctor, assistant proctor, and department chair — as teaching experience under the concession provision. Not also Dr Md Abdul Kaium, but also all 24 associate professors seeking promotion have cited different administrative and co-curricular duties as teaching experience in their applications.
A university teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said pressure has been mounting on the vice-chancellor to approve the promotions of the 24 teachers at the upcoming syndicate meeting. According to the source, the issue has already been discussed in three meetings. They have warned that the promotions must be approved by any means; otherwise, a major movement will be launched against the vice-chancellor.
Meanwhile, the university’s promotion policy states that teachers performing administrative or co-curricular duties, such as provost, department chair, proctor, assistant proctor, student adviser, house tutor, and assistant house tutor, may receive certain concessions in experience requirements. Under this provision, three years of service in such roles can provide a one-year relaxation in the experience requirement for promotion. However, UGC has stated that there is no provision allowing administrative duties to be counted as teaching experience.
According to UGC sources, a recruitment board was completed to promote 24 teachers across 13 departments of the University of Barisal without the commission’s approval. In doing so, the authorities did not follow the “Guidelines for Determining Minimum Qualifications in Formulating Updated Policies for Recruitment and Promotion of Teachers at Public Universities,” prepared by the UGC and approved by the Ministry of Education. In addition, although the university has approval for nine professor posts, seven lecturers have already been appointed to those positions without the commission’s approval. As a result, only two professor posts remain vacant. Yet the university has moved to promote 24 teachers to the rank of professor.
Information about the process to promote 24 teachers to professor despite the absence of approved posts has also been highlighted in a UGC audit report. The report states that for the proposed upgradation (promotion) of 24 teachers, there are only two vacant professor posts, while no other positions have been approved by the commission. It further notes that although nine professor posts were approved, seven lecturers have already been appointed to those posts without the commission’s approval, effectively blocking the professor positions.
The report adds that appointing seven lecturers against seven professor posts without commission approval is irregular. Likewise, granting promotions through upgradation against those same blocked professor posts is also inconsistent with the rules. Even for the remaining two vacant professor posts, promotions cannot be granted through upgradation without obtaining the commission’s no-objection and issuing an open recruitment advertisement.
To ensure compliance with administrative regulations in the ongoing recruitment and promotion process, the Inspection and Monitoring Division of the UGC sent a letter to the university on January 1. The matter was highlighted in the letter as well. The letter also stated that, under the Barisal University Act, the institution must prepare or revise all relevant statutes, rules, and regulations concerning employment, pension, promotion, and career advancement and obtain approval from the appropriate authorities. Later, only in accordance with the approved statutes, teachers, officers, and employees can be promoted.
When asked about the issue, Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mohammad Toufiq Alam of the University of Barisal told Bonik Barta, “Under Clause 2(9) of the UGC’s minimum qualification guidelines, teachers may be appointed to the next position from the one they currently hold by following the prevailing rules. Based on that provision, the university has followed its own promotion policy. However, Barisal University has applied this authority quite extensively, which is why the matter has drawn attention. But, it can’t be called a violation of the law, because this legal framework was adopted here from University of Dhaka.”
He further said, “UGC doesn’t like this practice. We haven’t been able to move away from these practices, but we’ll have to do so. UGC has set minimum qualification requirements that should ideally be followed. However, not all universities strictly promote teachers according to these conditions.”
The UGC, however, said that the University of Barisal does not yet have a formal service statute. According to the commission, the university must first formulate its service statute and have it approved by the university’s syndicate and frame policies based on it. The higher education regulatory body also said administrative experience cannot be counted to fulfill the teaching experience requirement.
UGC member Professor Tanzimuddin Khan told Bonik Barta, “Two legal inconsistencies have occurred in the process. First, the minimum qualification requirements in Barisal University’s own policy don’t align with the UGC’s teacher recruitment and promotion guidelines. Second, there were no approved professor posts in some departments. If a professor post already exists but is occupied, the university must request additional posts. In that case, recruitment would require an open advertisement. But if a professor post was never approved at all, it can’t simply be created through reclassification.”