Bhubaneswar: Amid a severe faculty shortage in the state universities, governor and chancellor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Saturday directed the vice-chancellors (VCs) to begin recruitment against vacant teaching posts by the first week of Nov and complete the process by the end of the month.According to govt data placed in assembly last week, 1,450 of the 2,086 sanctioned teaching posts in 17 public universities were vacant as of Aug 31. The vacancies included 265 professors’ posts, 470 associate professors’ and 715 assistant professors’.At a meeting with the VCs, Kambhampati described faculty recruitment as the next major challenge after the appointment of VCs and asked the universities to adhere to a fixed timeline. He said that merit should remain the primary criterion in selecting teachers.The shortage has forced universities to depend on guest faculty to keep academic activities going. Around 425 guest faculty members have been engaged across the 17 universities, according to the assembly data. Ravenshaw University has the highest number at 127, followed by Sambalpur University with 91 and Rajendra University with 74.The vacancies have accumulated over the years, with faculty recruitment delayed amid changes to the recruitment mechanism and legal challenges to the Odisha Universities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The state amended the law in 2024, subsequently allowing universities to resume the recruitment process.Kambhampati, meanwhile, proposed a change in the interview process. Instead of extensive shortlisting of eligible applicants before interviews, he suggested that all candidates meeting the eligibility criteria be called for interviews. This, he said, would ensure that eligible candidates were not excluded at the initial stage and give interview panels a wider pool to assess.The governor also sought updates from universities pursuing accreditation and called for uniformity in the tenure of VCs across the public universities. “There are some universities where the VC has a three-year tenure, and some have four years. There should be a common tenure,” he said.Kambhampati recalled that VCs of 14 state universities were appointed on a single day after he assumed office as governor and said the focus should now shift to strengthening universities through regular faculty appointments.Higher education minister Suryabanshi Suraj endorsed the governor’s suggestions and asked the VCs to set timelines for completing the recruitment process.Commissioner-cum-secretary of higher education department Aravind Agrawal made a presentation on the status of teaching faculty recruitment in the public universities during the meeting.