There are 12 universities running under the Higher Education Department and, of them, only one university has got NAAC A+ status, seven NAAC A and three have got NAAC B+ status.
Higher Education Minister informed this in the State Assembly in response to a question of BJP MLA Dilip Ray.
While the Utkal University (UU)has NAAC A+ stutus, Sambalpur Univeristy (SU), Brahmapur University (BU), Ravenshaw University (RU), National Law University, Khallikote University, Rama Devi University and Gangadhar University have got NAAC A status and North Odisha University (NOU), FM University (FMU) and Shree Shree Jagannath Sanskrit University (SSJSU) have got NAAC B+ status. The Odisha State National Open University, Sambalpur is yet to get any NAAC status.
Seven universities, UU, FMU, BU, SU, RU, SSJSU and NOU, have a total of 1,036 sanctioned teaching staff and, of them,407 posts are lying vacant now. Similarly, they have 2,541 nonteaching staffs and, of them, 1,187 posts vacant.