The All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed 20% of total faculty strength at its technical institutions to be ‘Professor of Practice’, which includes assistant and associate professor categories, according to a major change announced in an addendum to its approval process handbook released for the 2025-26 academic year.
According to the amendment, in all technical courses, schools may hire a ‘Professor of Practice’ (with extensive industry experience) to instruct students in lieu of professors.
“Maximum percentage of faculty members engaged as PoP within the required faculty strength (cadre ratio) in engineering and technology is 20 per cent wherein 5 per cent is exclusively reserved for women PoPs/associate/assistant (on regular basis),” according to the addendum, which was published earlier this month.
Pop would be included in the student-faculty ratio, it stated.
Professor of Practice’ (PoP) refers to a category of positions in academic institutions, referring to people from the industry, who can be appointed by higher education institutions to teach for a fixed term. PoP scheme was introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in August 2022 as part of the new National Education Policy (NEP) to bring industry expertise into academic institutions to improve the quality of higher education.
Last year was the first time when the Council had brought out the approval process handbook for three years, which is to remain valid from 2024-25 to 2026-27. The changes brought out by the Council this November are in the addendum released to the existing handbook for 2025-26, which also includes several amendments.
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Source: News18
