Framingham State University in Massachusetts plans on increasing its faculty staff in part to keep pace with its dramatic increase in students over the past few years, the MetroWest Daily News reported.

The school intends to hire 20 new full-time professors and upgrade seven temporary positions to tenure track over the next four years, Robert Martin, president of the university, told the MetroWest Daily News.

To slow down student enrollment, Framingham State University also plans to lower its annual enrollments growth projections from 2 percent to 1 percent. Two percent was the college's target rate in recent years.

"Our plan is still to grow," Martin told the MetroWest Daily News. "But for the next couple years, we've dialed back."

The MetroWest Daily News reported that the school's rapid growth in 2011 and 2012 - when fall enrollment jumped 12 percent and 6 percent - is partially the reason for the dramatic increase in student enrollment.

Although the rate fell back down to around 2 percent on fall 2013, the university is still dealing with the consequences of the historic increase in students, "one of which has been a lag in new faculty hires to teach them, as well as an over-reliance on temporary positions, adjunct professors and visiting lecturers."

"For me, the basic premise is that we need to maintain the culture and character of the university, and be able to say that most of our classes are taught by full-time faculty," Martin said.

He said the goal is now to maintain a ratio in which no more than 15 percent of professors are adjuncts or visiting lecturers. In some departments within the university, that rate has increased closer to 20 to 25 percent.

Although adjunct faculty bring the same experience and enthusiasm to their lectures and classes as full-time professors, Martin said full-time faculty provide "valuable additional benefits by working on their own and with students outside the classroom on research projects, campus initiatives, and other efforts."

The university plans to hire five new full-time faculty for fall 2014 and convert four temporary positions to full-time. In the following three years, university officials hope to hire 15 more full-time professors in and convert three temporary position to full-time per year over that span.

"It's significant," Martin said of the cost of that plan. "But it's not a burden, if you have the resources do it. We're pretty optimistic it will happen for next year - we have searches in progress, although we haven't quite yet signed on the dotted line."