Academic affairs: VCs upset over political meddling

HEC chief blames misuse of powers by varsity admins for current imbroglio.

ISLAMABAD: Vice-chancellors from across the country expressed concern on Thursday over growing political and bureaucratic interference in academic affairs, saying that it was affecting the quality of education.

The meeting, attended by vice-chancellors of more than 100 universities, was specially convened to discuss the situation in the wake of several changes within the higher education institutions by provincial governments.

The VCs also agreed to develop a consensus for delineating concrete proposals for addressing challenges for management of universities.

The VC of the University of Peshawar, who also chaired the meeting, expressed serious reservations over changes in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act of 2016.



He pointed out that the act had been amended thrice in less than 15 months, “virtually curtailing the powers” of the VCs.



“The tenures of the VCs has been cut short from four to three years, besides directly imposing statutes of the Higher Education Department, effectively curtailing the powers of the academic councils, syndicates, senates and governing bodies,” he said.

Dr Rasul Jan maintained that there was direct interference in holding the meetings of the selection boards and governing bodies and appointments on several key posts, even the VCs. “Now we expect tighter (political and bureaucratic) control over the province’s higher education sector,” he stated.

He, however, denied the involvement of the provincial government as a whole and said that one lawmaker and several bureaucrats were into the business.

Academics also expressed concern over the federal government’s decision to place the public sector universities under the federal control.

A VC from Punjab stressed the need for bridging the growing gap between federal and provincial higher education authorities and said that isolation was creating more problems.

“We are stuck between a rock and a hard place … Universities are often unable to reach out to the provincial higher education body,” he was quoted as saying.

HEC’s chairperson Mukhtar Ahmed blamed misuse of powers and autonomy by the university administrations for the current imbroglio. He said: “Currently, quality of education was a major issue threatening the academic sector, but universities are turning a blind eye to it.”

He said the proliferation of illegal campuses and launching MPhil and PhD programmes without obtaining no-objection certificates (NOCs) was destroying the fabric of education.

According to him, as many as 1,000 PhD cases were pending and universities were not responding to HEC queries.

“We must not compromise on basic parameters, otherwise we will be endangering the futures of thousands of youngsters,” the HEC chief said.



Mukhtar Ahmed also said that a committee would be formed to meet top leadership of provinces, informing them about ramifications of the recent decisions.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal defended the concept of university autonomy, but said: “Autonomy comes with responsibility and accountability.”

He agreed with the assertion that interference in university affairs had harmed their performance and urged the vice-chancellors to adopt a proactive approach for developing their institutions, playing a more active role in social and economic growth of the country.

The minister also urged the university heads to adopt the High Performance Organisation (HPO) Framework, which is an international model for improving organisational performance.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2017.