The Central Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) under Ministry of Education including Central Universities (CUs) and Centrally Funded Technical Institutions (CFTIs) such as Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and National Institutes of Technology (NITs) are statutory autonomous organizations established under respective Central Acts of Parliament and governed by provisions of the Acts/Statutes/Ordinances/Regulations made thereunder. As autonomous institutions, faculty recruitment is done within the institutions itself, in accordance with their Acts and Regulations. The recruitment powers vests with the respective Board of Governors/Executive Committee/Board of Management.
Occurring of vacancies and filling thereof is a continuous process. The vacancies arise due to promotion, retirement, resignation, death, opening of new institutions, schemes or projects, and additional requirements on account of enhanced students’ strength and expansion of capacity in existing institutions.
In August, 2021, all CHEIs under the Ministry of Education were requested to undertake a special drive to fill backlog vacancies in their institutions in Mission Mode. The CHEIs undertook special recruitment drives to fill the vacancies including Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). In September 2022, the Ministry of Education had also exhorted all the CHEIs to fill up the vacancies in Mission Mode. In October 2025, all the CHEIs have again been requested to fill up all the backlog vacancies in Mission Mode. From September 2022, all CHEIs have undertaken Mission Mode recruitment drive to fill the vacancies. Up to 23.05.2026 (i.e. the date of last Rozgar Mela), a total number of 32,114 posts (3,851 SC, 1,643 ST, 6,785 OBC, 1,191 EWS) have been filled up by all CHEIs, including 18,757 faculty positions (2,315 SC, 910 ST, 3,986 OBC, 568 EWS), in Mission Mode.
The number of PhD admissions at CHEIs is dynamic and varies across admission cycles based on the availability of faculty supervisors, departmental requirements, and funding support. Further, the availability of PhD positions changes with the Institute’s faculty strength. New faculty members create additional research supervision capacity, while the research scholars of faculty members who resign, retire, or are transferred are reassigned to other eligible supervisors as per the Institute’s academic regulations. The number of PhD enrolment has increased from 1,17,301 (as per AISHE Report 2014-15) to 3,43,559 (as per AISHE Report 2023-24) marking a growth of 192.89 %.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha toda
