One-Third of Teaching Jobs Unfilled in India's Central Higher Education Centres, SBI Report Reveals

India's higher education system has grown rapidly over the past decade, but a severe shortage of teachers persists across institutions. A new report by SBI Research reveals that 34 percent of sanctioned teaching posts are currently vacant in centrally funded higher education institutions.

Growth and Enrolment

Titled 'The State of Higher Education in India since 2014', the report was released on September 30, 2026. It shows that India had 64,756 higher education institutes in fiscal year 2024, including 1,289 universities, 48,246 colleges, and 15,221 standalone institutes. This represents a 47 percent growth in academic institutions compared with fiscal year 2014. Total student enrolment reached 4.5 crore in fiscal year 2024. Among these students, 40.1 percent belong to OBC communities, 38 percent from other communities, 15.5 percent from Scheduled Castes, and 6.4 percent from Scheduled Tribes. The Arts stream recorded the highest student enrolment at 32.1 percent, followed by Science at 13.5 percent, Engineering and Technology at 12.9 percent, and Commerce at 12 percent.

Faculty Shortages

While the total number of teachers in higher education rose from around 13.7 lakh in 2013-14 to 17.3 lakh in 2023-24, vacancies remain high. Women made up 45 percent of teachers in fiscal year 2024, compared to 39 percent a decade earlier. However, drawing on data from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, the SBI report points out that 14,042 out of 41,351 sanctioned positions are vacant in centrally funded institutions, marking a 34 percent vacancy rate. IIITs face the highest vacancy rate at 54 percent, followed by Central Universities at 39 percent, IIMs at 33 percent, NITs at 29 percent, and IISER at 7 percent. Shortages are especially severe for professor posts, which see a vacancy rate of 56.2 percent.

Context

Centrally funded higher education institutions in India rely heavily on government allocations to maintain infrastructure and recruit faculty for advanced academic and research programs. Addressing persistent faculty vacancies is widely seen as essential to maintaining teaching standards as student enrolment numbers continue to rise nationwide.