Several challenges: Under new leadership, LCWU aims high

Dr Rukhsana Kausar intends to hire full-time employees on administrative positions

LAHORE: The Lahore College for Women University’s newly appointed provisional vice-chancellor intends to undertake several administrative changes at the varsity, including hiring full-time employees on administrative positions.

The LCWU is facing several challenges, including faculty members working on additional charge on key positions, Dr Rukhsana Kausar said while talking to The Express Tribune.

She revealed that the controller examination, registrar and treasurer were working on additional charge and she wanted to make permanent hiring on these key posts. She added that some department heads were also serving on additional charge. “We have advertised for some positions and a selection board will be held on January 30,” she added.

Dr Rukhsana took provisional charge of the LCWU on December 28 after the decision of the Lahore High Court. The university, first established as a college for girls in 1922, was granted its charter in 2002 and has both intermediate and higher education programmes. Currently, the university has over 18,000 enrolled students, out of which 4,000 are enrolled in the intermediate programmes while 11,000 are students of the higher education programmes.

She said that space was a major hurdle for the university and it was a challenge to accommodate the student population in the campus. She added that she was waiting for the Punjab government’s committed land for its Kala Shah Kaku Campus.

“A similar commitment has been made for the Jhang Campus and a new hostel for the main Lahore campus,” she said, adding that the varsity was waiting for both to be fulfilled.

Another drastic change for the varsity would be how it teaches the intermediate programme. Dr Rukhsana wants to hire independent faculty for the intermediate programme and give more time for the current faculty to work on research. She said, “The students at the intermediate level require a different level of grooming, while at the higher education level a different teaching methodology is used. For this purpose, I want to separate the college and university faculties.”

“I want to introduce another shift in policy that no other public sector university has yet made. I wants to introduce a policy of decentralisation at all levels and department heads will be allowed to make some policy and budget related decisions independently,” she said.

She added she believed that there should be autonomy for departments as this would bring about healthy competition among the departments of the varsity. Another shift from the traditional senior-first policy of public sector universities that she wanted to bring is to induct younger faculty members in different committees of the varsity. She added that this would give administrative exposure to newer faculty members and bring fresh ideas.

She has already initiated a paper-free workplace policy, where all notifications are sent by email rather than signed on paper.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2017.