New Delhi, July 24 -- Central Universities (CUs) face a significant faculty shortage as nearly 26% of the total 18,951 sanctioned posts remain vacant, with a disproportionate shortage in reserved categories, the education ministry data shared with Rajya Sabha on Wednesday revealed. Reserved categories - Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) - account for 36.7% of the total 4,889 vacant posts across 46 central universities funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC). In contrast, only 14.6% of general category posts remain unfilled. The data shared by Union minister of state in education Sukanta Majumdar, in response to questions asked by RJD MP Manoj Jha, shows that 54% of the professor posts o...