In a perfect world, universities would hire teachers

the way orchestras select violinists —

with auditions that test skill,

soul,

and the ability to make young minds come alive.

But in much of private academia,

the hiring table looks less like a selection committee…

and more like a negotiation desk.

References.

Connections.

Loyalty.

Minimum salary expectation.

Flexible obedience.

These become the “merit criteria”

in a system built to look stable on paper

and cheap in payroll.

Competence becomes optional.

Students pay the price.

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Scene 1: The Interview That Was Never an Interview

A qualified PhD candidate walks in

with passion, publications, and pedagogy ideas.

The panel listens politely.

Later that afternoon,

the job is offered to someone who

“comes through the Chairman’s friend’s recommendation.”

The HR head whispers,

“This candidate will adjust better.”

By adjust, he means:

won’t ask questions,

won’t demand quality,

won’t challenge mediocrity.

Comfort beats competence.

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Scene 2: The Salary Trap

A brilliant applicant quotes a fair salary for her qualifications.

The dean frowns:

“We can hire two people for your cost.”

She leaves.

Two cheaper faculty join.

One survives.

One quits.

Students endure both.

Low salaries aren’t saving money.

They’re leaking quality.

Private academia often behaves like a mall food court —

maximise options, minimise cost,

hope the customers don’t notice the ingredients.

Students always notice.

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Scene 3: The Loyalty Over Talent Rule

A faculty member with average competence but high loyalty

gets promoted to coordinator.

A faculty member with high competence but low compliance

gets quietly sidelined.

Loyalty gets rewarded.

Excellence becomes inconvenient.

Departments turn into mini-kingdoms,

where the safest person thrives

and the best person survives — barely.

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Scene 4: The Global Parallel — UAE, Singapore, Malaysia

A principal in Dubai confesses during a seminar:

“Private institutions hire to fill classrooms,

not to fill minds.”

His colleague from Singapore adds:

“If you ask for a great teacher,

they ask: ‘At what salary?’

If you ask for a cheap teacher,

they say: ‘Bring five.’”

Global truth.

Local consequences.

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Why Are Hiring Standards So Poor?

1. Private colleges are businesses first

Businesses prioritise:

• retention,

• compliance,

• affordability,

• stability.

Risk-taking in hiring is rare.

Great teachers disrupt comfort.

2. Managements fear ‘high-quality faculty’

High-quality faculty demand:

• academic freedom,

• better resources,

• curriculum changes,

• student-centric culture.

That’s intimidating for status quo systems.

3. Reference culture provides social safety

Hiring through:

• family networks,

• political recommendations,

• donor relations,

• alumni circles

feels “safe” to management.

Talented strangers feel risky.

4. Students don’t have a say

If students could vote on faculty,

half the system would collapse overnight.

5. HR departments treat teaching like generic labour

Teacher selection becomes:

“Can they talk?”

“Will they stay?”

“Will they agree?”

“Are they cheap?”

instead of:

“Will they change lives?”

6. No strong regulatory push for hiring transparency

NAAC won’t ask how a teacher was hired —

only whether they were hired.

So quality becomes cosmetic.

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Scene 5: A Student’s Realisation

A third-year engineering student whispers to his friend:

“Our best teachers are guest faculty.

Our worst are permanent.

And most of the permanent ones got hired

because they were… convenient.”

Convenience has become a hiring strategy.

Competence has become a luxury.

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The Emotional Underbelly

Poor hiring standards don’t just weaken classrooms.

They crush futures.

Because a bad teacher does more damage

than a bad syllabus,

bad infrastructure,

or bad exam pattern.

A bad teacher kills confidence.

Kills curiosity.

Kills ambition.

Kills the spark that could have changed a life.

And when a generation loses its spark,

a country loses its edge.

Private academia often forgets this.

Students never do.

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Scene 6: The Principal’s Honest Moment

A private college principal tells a friend at a conference:

“I can hire great teachers.

But great teachers want freedom.

And our management prefers peace.”

His friend replies quietly:

“Peace without quality is not peace.

It is decline.”

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Underbelly Essence

Poor hiring standards in private academia

aren’t an accident.

They are a design choice.

A choice to prioritise:

• cost over competence

• obedience over originality

• convenience over creativity

• networks over merit

And every such choice reduces the intellectual height of the institution.

Until private academia learns to hire for impact,

not for comfort,

classrooms will remain filled —

but minds will remain empty.

Students deserve better.

Society needs better.

The future requires better.

And the first step is simple:

hire teachers like they matter —

because they do.

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