Mr Uday Samant, minister for higher and technical education for the state of Maharashtra, recently made an announcement regarding the vacant teaching positions at the Savitribai Phule Pune University.

After taking charge as the minister, Mr Uday Samant arrived in Pune for the first time and held a meeting with the vice-chancellor of the Savitribai Phule Pune University Mr Nitin Karmalkar and other senior officers of the university to discuss regarding the issue of the available vacancies at the university.

After concluding the meeting, Mr Uday Samant addressed the media and announced that the available 111 teaching vacancies at the Savitribai Phule Pune University would be filled by the state government soon.

The minister said that presently there are 130 staff members who have been recruited on a He further added that the “The advertisements in this regard would be issued within a month and other administrative work related to the process will be finished in the following month.”

According to the statement made by the education minister, Savitribai Phule Pune University has around 800 vacancies for non-teaching positions, which will also be filled soon. Though, he added that “However, to fill these vacancies, we need permission from the finance minister.

I will be requesting finance minister Ajit Pawar to hold a meeting within the next fortnight.” When asked about the pending issue concerned with setting up of Savitribai Phule Pune University sub-centres in Nashik and Ahmednagar, the minister said: “The finalisation of sub-centres have been pending since the last five years, they will be expedited.”

Mr Samant said that the land which has been proposed for setting up of Savitribai Phule Pune University sub-centre in Nashik also includes a part of a highway. He further added that “We have plans to set up two different campuses on either side of the highway, with the administrative wings and hostels on two sides.”

The education minister stated that the appropriate resolution required for this task would be issued by the state government within the next fortnight.

Mr Samant further elaborated that an academy will also be set-up in Pune to help the professors upgrade their skills. His statement read “This is necessary as professors of higher learning need to be updated on the latest trends in terms of technology and research.

This institute will fulfil this.” Concluding his statement, he added that by 1^st March 2020, an appropriate proposal for setting up of this academy in Pune would be placed before the state cabinet.