Govt hikes retirement age of regular faculty in T varsities to 65

Hyderabad: To address the problem of faculty shortage in state universities, the state govt on Thursday increased the retirement age of regular teachers from 60 to 65.

In the 12 state universities, there are over 2,800 sanctioned teaching posts. Of these, only about 750 are currently occupied by regular faculty who will now get the benefit of enhanced retirement age. The last recruitment in state universities was in 2013 in united Andhra Pradesh and none since Telangana came into existence.

"Govt, after careful examination of the matter, hereby enhances the age of superannuation of regular teachers working in the state universities of Telangana. The enhanced age of superannuation applies only to the teaching faculty who are drawing UGC scale of pay in the state universities of Telangana under the administrative control of the higher education department," the GO released by the higher education department said.

The GO directed the registrars of all the state varsities to take necessary action.

The decision was based on the recommendations made by the Telangana Council of Higher Education (TGCHE) to retain the senior-most faculty for a few more years so that the quality of teaching, research, accreditations and rankings are not affected. The council had informed the govt that varsities were even struggling to get NAAC/ NBA/ NRIF/ National/ International Accreditations and rankings in the absence of good faculty.