UGC Asks Universities To Engage “Professor of Practice”

New Delhi: Higher education institutions have been requested by the University Grants Commission (UGC) to take adequate steps to hire professionals and industry experts as Professors of Practice at their universities.

In this regard, it has sent a letter to all the vice-chancellors of universities and college presidents in the nation. One of the National Education Policy 2020’s proposals, according to the UGC, is to impart holistic and multidisciplinary education in higher education institutions. This may necessitate the involvement of seasoned professionals, practitioners, and business experts in the teaching-learning process.

Professors of Practice (PoPs) are employed worldwide. Many universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Stanford University, SOAS University of London, Cornell University, and the University of Helsinki, to name a few, are embracing PoPs, who are primarily non-tenured faculty members.

PoPs are also appointed at the Indian Institutes of Technology in Delhi, Madras, and Guwahati.

Last month, the UGC announced that universities and higher education institutions would now be able to hire eminent experts as faculty members under the category of “Professors of Practice in Universities and Colleges,” for which formal academic qualification and publication requirements would not be required.