Three years on: HEC yet to find Seerat chairs heads
Not even a single scholar applying for the posts satisfied the criteria
The education budget has witnessed a 13 per cent increase on last year’s Rs86 billion.
ISLAMABAD:
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has yet to find appropriate scholars for nine of its Seerat chairs – three years after their establishment in public sector universities.
The project was approved during a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in October 2014 at a cost of Rs189.98 million.
The administrative approval of the project was given in November of the same year.
Since then, the government had set aside a substantial amount in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) every year, but it remained unutilised because no seat was available, except those of the heads of chair.
A hefty amount: Rs3.81 billion approved as UVAS annual budget
The project envisaged conducting research in nine themes, including inter-faith and communal harmony, education and knowledge, gender studies and women rights, global peace, human rights and social justice, social justice and welfare, sustainable development, leadership and governance, business, commerce and property rights.
Dr Qibla Ayaz, a former senior professor of the University of Peshawar, joined the HEC on October 19, 2016 as the head of the Seerat Chair – Inter Faith and Communal Harmony on a two-year contract. Dr Ayaz was appointed two years after the project was given an administrative go-ahead by the HEC.
Despite advertising positions in major English and Urdu dailies thrice, the HEC is yet to fill the remaining chairs.
According to the HEC, 24 candidates had been shortlisted against eight themes after the advertisements were published.
HEC starts online degree attestation
The selection committee is likely to hold a meeting for conducting interviews of shortlisted candidates early next month. Over the past few months, this meeting had been rescheduled twice.
The HEC expects the heads of these chairs to possess degree featuring a combination of subjects along with knowledge of basic principles of Islamic research.
The names earlier received for these chairs were below par, said an HEC official. Since the HEC, he added, was unable to find even a single scholar among all applicants matching the required qualifications, vision and experience, the names were drooped.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has yet to find appropriate scholars for nine of its Seerat chairs – three years after their establishment in public sector universities.
The project was approved during a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in October 2014 at a cost of Rs189.98 million.
The administrative approval of the project was given in November of the same year.
Since then, the government had set aside a substantial amount in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) every year, but it remained unutilised because no seat was available, except those of the heads of chair.
A hefty amount: Rs3.81 billion approved as UVAS annual budget
The project envisaged conducting research in nine themes, including inter-faith and communal harmony, education and knowledge, gender studies and women rights, global peace, human rights and social justice, social justice and welfare, sustainable development, leadership and governance, business, commerce and property rights.
Dr Qibla Ayaz, a former senior professor of the University of Peshawar, joined the HEC on October 19, 2016 as the head of the Seerat Chair – Inter Faith and Communal Harmony on a two-year contract. Dr Ayaz was appointed two years after the project was given an administrative go-ahead by the HEC.
Despite advertising positions in major English and Urdu dailies thrice, the HEC is yet to fill the remaining chairs.
According to the HEC, 24 candidates had been shortlisted against eight themes after the advertisements were published.
HEC starts online degree attestation
The selection committee is likely to hold a meeting for conducting interviews of shortlisted candidates early next month. Over the past few months, this meeting had been rescheduled twice.
The HEC expects the heads of these chairs to possess degree featuring a combination of subjects along with knowledge of basic principles of Islamic research.
The names earlier received for these chairs were below par, said an HEC official. Since the HEC, he added, was unable to find even a single scholar among all applicants matching the required qualifications, vision and experience, the names were drooped.