THE UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION (UGC) on launched a 'unified portal' for faculty recruitment to central universities, where nearly 31% of sanctioned positions are vacant, according to the Union Government's recent Lok Sabha submission.

M Jagadesh Kumar, chairperson of the UGC, who launched the portal curec.samarth.ac.in, stated that it will benefit both applicants and universities because it will carry a consolidated list of job openings across all central universities and provide a simple interface to apply.

The Union Ministry of Education oversees 46 central universities. According to Kumar, the portal will "assist UGC in assisting universities to fast-track the recruitment process by displaying real-time data on vacancies, applications under consideration, and also track whether the reservation policy is being followed or not."

Kumar emphasised that the portal is not intended to centralise faculty hiring for all central universities, which will "retain their autonomy in the recruitment process." After Kumar first proposed the portal in March 2022, some faculty unions expressed concern on this front. The central universities, on the other hand, have been ordered to close their existing recruitment portals.

"As before, the central universities will continue to advertise positions, collect online applications, shortlist applicants, conduct interviews, and appoint faculty members." "All of the aforementioned activities will be carried out through the admin dashboard for each university on this portal," Kumar explained.

Applicants will find a consolidated list of openings across the central universities, as well as personalised dashboards to help manage the application process, on the portal. Filters such as location, designation, subject, experience, and education level will be available for applicants to use in order to find openings that match their qualifications.

"For universities, the platform shall provide real-time tracking of applications, from initial application to screening," Kumar explained.