Medical education: Respond to concerns over research quality, UHS asked

Petitioner seeks action against the VC on his questionable research publications.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the University of Health Sciences (UHS) vice chancellor to respond to letters sent to his office by an applicant for the university’s doctorate of philosophy (PhD) degree programme.

The petition filed by Dr Qaisar Rashid was disposed of with these directives for the UHS vice chancellor.

In the letters addressed to UHS VC Muhammad Aslam, the petitioner had raised concerns about the quality of research and teaching at the university, said the petition submitted by him before the LHC.

In the petition, he said that he was a medical doctor by profession and had obtained a master of sciences (MSc) degree in molecular biology from University of Westminster, London, in 2002. He said that of the three candidates who had sat the entry test for the UHS’s PhD programme in immunology earlier this year, he was the only candidate who secured more than 70 percent marks in the immunology section.

The other two candidates, who had completed their masters of philosophy (MPhil) degrees from the UHS, could not pass the exam, he added.

“This made me worry about the quality of teaching and research at the UHS. I wrote a letter to the vice chancellor because I wanted an explanation,” the petitioner said. He said he was concerned that if the MPhil degree holders from the UHS could not pass the university’s PhD degree programme’s entry test, the teaching and research undertaken at the university should not be of very high quality. “I had asked the VC to comment on this concern so that I may consider getting enrolled in the PhD programme at the university,” he said.

Further, the petitioner said, it seemed that an MSc degree obtained from an average university in the UK was better that an MPhil degree obtained from the UHS.

He asked the VC, “Why is the UHS not delivering quality research? It has been more than 10 years since its formation.”

The petitioner told the court that he had also expressed concerns about the competency of the VC in the letters sent to him.

He said the VC had a PhD degree from a university in the UK and 35 years of teaching experience yet there was not a single book on physiology to his credit. He said that one of the research articles authored by the VC was an exact copy of an article published by a scholar elsewhere.

He requested the court to direct the VC to respond to his letters. He also sought orders for suspension of operations at the university till the VC satisfied the court about the concerns raised by him and action against the VC for misguiding the public and the scientific community through questionable publications.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2016.