BGSBU grapples with academic slump, unpaid salaries and stalled promotions

RAJOURI — Growing concern is emerging at Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) as faculty members, students, and sections of the academic community allege that the university is experiencing a prolonged administrative and academic decline, marked by salary delays, stalled promotions, weak research activity, and institutional stagnation.

Sources within the university claimed that faculty members and staff have not received salaries for the last four months, causing financial distress and affecting morale within the institution.

“People are struggling to manage household expenses. When salaries are delayed for months, it directly impacts the academic atmosphere,” a faculty member said.

Another major issue repeatedly raised by faculty is the alleged stagnation in promotions and career progression.

Several teachers alleged that promotion processes have remained pending while favouritism and internal lobbying have increasingly affected institutional functioning.

“There is a feeling among many senior faculty members that merit and experience are being ignored,” another faculty member claimed.

The university, located in Rajouri district and spread over a vast campus in the Pir Panjal region, had witnessed rapid expansion before 2017 and was widely seen as a major educational hope for students from Rajouri, Poonch, and adjoining areas.

However, multiple voices within the institution now allege that academic growth has slowed significantly in recent years.

Students and teachers claimed that research activities, academic conferences, innovation initiatives, and institutional collaborations have declined sharply compared to earlier years.

“There is hardly any visible academic environment left. Universities survive through intellectual activity, but that culture is weakening,” a senior academic source revealed to the news agency Kashmir News Trust.

Concerns have also been raised over the alleged non-utilization of the university’s CAPEX budget. Sources claimed that development funds meant for infrastructure and academic expansion remain largely unused despite pressing institutional requirements.

Academics said the lack of visible infrastructural and academic expansion has added to frustration among students and faculty.

Some faculty members also criticized what they described as an absence of active administrative oversight.

Questions are being raised within sections of the university over the present administrative arrangement after the Additional Deputy Commissioner was assigned charge as Registrar. Critics within the institution alleged that the arrangement has failed to provide consistent academic and administrative direction to the university.

“There is no visible roadmap for revival or institutional reform,” a faculty member said.

BGSBU was established to strengthen higher education access in the Pir Panjal region and was once projected as a transformative institution for the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

Educationists from the region now say urgent intervention is needed to prevent further decline.

Faculty members and academics have appealed to the Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, who is pro-Chancellor and the Education Minister, to address pending salaries, initiate transparent promotion mechanisms, strengthen academic activity, utilize development funds, and appoint stable full-time leadership for the university.

“There is still time to revive the institution if serious reforms are initiated,” an academic source said.