Reform of teacher recruitment system in universities

Reforms are going on in the country. Reforms are also needed for transparency and impartiality in the teacher recruitment process in divishwavidyalayas. It is the need of the hour to think about upgrading the existing post of Lecturer to Senior Lecturer to recruit more qualified candidates to the teaching profession.

University teaching can start from seventh grade. Educational qualification for recruitment should be PhD degree and at least two publications as first or corresponding author in impact factor journals. To become a university teacher, an outline should be formulated for selection of more qualified candidates with emphasis on some other qualifications such as PhD, publication, citation, H-index etc. PhD and publication in journals with impact factor are essential for university teaching recruitment in middle developed to developed countries.

Preference given to PhD degree holders from foreign universities and GPA of previous results may be relaxed in recruitment of senior lecturers. To apply for this post, the GPA must be at least 8.5 with a total of four in both the SSC and HSC examinations and a minimum of 6.5 with a total of 6.5 in both the graduation and post-graduate examinations. If for some reason a candidate with a PhD degree is not available, then candidates with at least two years of teaching or research experience in a public or private university, degree college or research institute with a Masters may be considered. The probationary period for this post will be one year and at the same time they will be considered eligible for promotion to Assistant Professor. Those currently engaged as lecturers in various universities will be promoted to the post of senior lecturer after completion of two years and the existing post of lecturer may be abolished after promotion of all the lecturers.

In the interest of impartiality in selection of eligible candidates, a score board of 100 marks may be prepared on the previous day's transcript of the candidate instead of written or oral examination for the appointment of Senior Lecturer in the University where Academic Qualification 50, Publication 30, Citation 5, H-Index 5 and Awards 10 marks allotted. will be In evaluating the educational qualification of the candidate, a total of 5 marks can be kept in both the SSC and HSC examinations out of 10 marks and a total of 20 marks out of 10 marks in both the graduation and post-graduate examinations. In my reform proposal 20 marks for PhD can be kept 5 marks for corresponding author and 3 marks for co-author. It is proposed to allocate 1 mark for every 100 citations and 2 H-Indexes each.
The number of scholarships, fellowships or honors received by the candidate from SSC up to the date of application will be considered as awards and a maximum of five awards can be considered with 2 marks for each. The first three candidates thus evaluated will be called for an oral examination only to familiarize themselves with them and to observe the validity of certificates and publications, in which no marks will be allotted. The highest scorer is recommended for appointment and the remaining two are proposed to be placed on the waiting list. If such reforms and transparency are brought in the recruitment process, those who are engaged in post-doctoral or post-PhD research abroad, will express interest in returning to public universities in their home countries.

It will also make it easier to bring talented people back to the country. It should be noted that in the case of promotion or direct recruitment to the next steps from Assistant Professor, experience, publication, citation, H-Index etc. have been kept, which will get full 20 marks if obtained from a foreign university and 15 marks in case of any university of the country. However, if a candidate with PhD degree is not available, the 20 marks allotted for PhD may be kept for two years experience, which is full 20 marks for experience as teacher or researcher in public university or government research institute, 15 marks for private university or government degree college and private MPO affiliated degree college. It is proposed to award 10 marks for experience.

30 marks allotted for publication, of which 5 marks may be considered for publication in a maximum of six impact factor journals. Each first or
Proportionate rate should be higher. If the proposed reform process is initiated, the amount of study leave paid to teachers during PhD period will be reduced and will save huge amount of money and more qualified candidates will be available. Moreover, the five years of study leave with full pay in various universities can be reduced to three years, which can be kept open mainly for research such as post-doctoral, research fellows, seminars, workshops etc.

Author: Associate Professor, School of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bangladesh Open University