Chandigarh, Oct. 10 -- When the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2027 edition placed Panjab University (PU) in the 701-800 band, it confirmed a trend that has been quietly building for years. Once among India's highest-ranked higher educational institutions, PU's decline is no longer an annual blip-it is the result of a persistent structural decay. An analysis of THE data shows PU held steady in the 601-800 band from 2024 through 2026 before dropping further this year. The latest data reveals sharp declines in core parameters: Research quality fell from 71.2 in 2026 to 68.5 in 2027, while industry engagement dropped from 48.3 to 45.8. Minor gains in teaching (38.2 to 39.2) and international outlook (24.6 to 25.6) were not enough to offset the losses. To understand what is driving the decline, HT spoke with former vice-chancellors and university leadership. Their insights point to systemic issues: A faculty void, stagnant state support, altered global evaluation metrics, and delayed translation of research into citations. Former administrators of the university since the turn of the century single out faculty shortage as the root cause. Former vice-chancellor Renu Vig, whose tenure ended in July 2026, said that against 1,378 sanctioned teaching posts, PU currently operates with only 630 regular faculty members. Over half the permanent positions are vacant, patched over by 100 contractual teachers and 300 guest lecturers. "Regular faculty are the backbone of research," Vig said, noting that while temporary teachers handle classroom loads, sustained multi-year projects depend on permanent staff. Though PU recruited about 40 regular teachers in 2025-its first major hiring drive since 2016-retirements continue to outpace intake. Vig also highlighted a sharp funding gap compared to central institutions. While PU handles ongoing research projects worth nearly Rs.100 crore, premier institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology receive far higher state grants and enjoyestablished corporate ties that drive patents, citations, and global visibility. Former vice-chancellor Arun Kumar Grover, who was at PU's helm from 2012-16, traced the trajectory back to a post-2016 decline in government research support and a worsening student-teacher ratio. Grover pointed out that PU's global peak in 2013-14 (when it ranked in the 226-250 band) was propelled by high-energy physics research conducted at international facilities like Europe's CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and the US-based Fermilab (Fermi National AcceleratorLaboratory). Subsequent changes in THE's ranking methodology altered how multi-author international papers were weighted, dealing a blow to PU's citation scoresfrom which it never fullyrecovered. "The decline is only partially reversible," Grover warned, emphasising that recovery demands dedicated research infrastructure, housing for post-doctoral fellows, and stronger support for young faculty. KN Pathak, who was the V-C from 2000-06, cautioned against judging an institution solely on short-term rank shifts, pointing to the natural gestation period of academic work. "Research publications don't appear overnight. It often takes two to three years or longer for quality work to gain citations," he said. The consensus among the former leadership is clear: PU has not lost its core academic capacity, but reclaiming its global standing requires rebuilding its research infrastructure through sustained policy backing rather than quick fixes....