4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 10, 2026 05:02 PM IST
Over 3,500 faculty vacancies were filled across the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) between September 2022 and May 2026 under the mission mode recruitment drive. The latest Lok Sabha response, however, does not provide the current faculty-student ratio across individual IITs or the number of sanctioned, filled and vacant faculty posts over the last five years, despite these being among the specific details sought in the question.
Instead, the Ministry of Education said that creation and filling of faculty vacancies is a “continuous process”.
Vacancies arise due to retirements and resignations, as well as the creation of additional positions because of expansion in student enrolment and academic programmes. The IITs issue rolling advertisements throughout the year to recruit faculty, the Ministry said.
The question raised in the Lok Sabha by Congress MP Sashi Tharoor sought details on whether the government or IIT council has prescribed a faculty-to-student ratio, the actual ratio in each IIT, the number of permanent and visiting faculty over the last five years, and the sanctioned, filled and vacant faculty posts at each institute. It also asked about measures to encourage doctoral alumni to join IITs as permanent faculty and to convert long-serving visiting or ad-hoc faculty into permanent positions.
What the Centre said on IIT faculty recruitment
According to the response, the Ministry advised all Central Higher Educational Institutions (CHEIs) in September 2022 to fill vacancies in the “mission mode.” Between September 2022 and May 2026, IITs filled more than 3,500 faculty vacancies.
The Ministry also said that around 460 visiting faculty members are currently engaged in teaching and academic activities across the IIT system. IITs also engage guest, adjunct and visiting faculty, along with Professors of Practice, to strengthen teaching and bring industry experience into classrooms.
The response said IIT Council discussions on faculty recruitment have included rolling and special recruitment drives, recruitment of foreign faculty and eligible OCI cardholders, institutional performance reviews and regular monitoring of recruitment.
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IIT faculty-student ratio: What is the prescribed norm?
An earlier Lok Sabha response in August 2025 had stated that faculty posts in IITs are sanctioned on the basis of a 1:10 faculty-to-student ratio. The Ministry had described this as a dynamic and continuous process, subject to periodic review based on institutional requirements.
The latest response, however, does not provide the actual faculty-to-student ratio for each IIT.
This distinction is important because filling 3,500 vacancies does not by itself show whether IITs have achieved the 1:10 ratio. The actual ratio would depend on the number of faculty members in position as well as the number of students enrolled at each institute.
‘Five PhD scholars as equivalent to one faculty member’: IIT Council plan to tackle teacher-student ratio
The recruitment drive began against a significant backlog. In 2016, The Indian Express reported that around 2,600 faculty positions were vacant across IITs, while the student-teacher ratio stood at around 15:1, against a desirable 10:1.
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At the time, the IIT Council had accepted a proposal to count five PhD scholars as equivalent to one faculty member for calculating the student-teacher ratio. The proposal was based on the fact that doctoral scholars also teach undergraduate students. IITs had around 26,000 PhD scholars at the time, which could have added about 5,000 faculty-equivalent positions to the calculation.
The proposal was presented as a way to help IITs achieve the desired faculty-student ratio.
The issue of faculty vacancies continued in subsequent years. An August 2022 parliamentary response had put the number of vacant teaching positions across the 23 IITs at 4,596. The subsequent ‘mission mode recruitment drive’ was intended to address such vacancies.