VCs’ appointment hits a snag once again

Interim government appointed VCs at University of Okara, University of Sahiwal, Ghazi University earlier in August

LAHORE: The longstanding issue of appointment of vice chancellors in public universities of Punjab has once again hit a snag as the slow-moving process has been once again halted with the transition in government.

As it stood, the appointments of vice chancellors at the University of Okara, the University of Sahiwal and the Ghazi University were made earlier in August. The advertisement, scrutiny, interview and other formalities had been completed for the Information Technology University (ITU) Lahore. The interim chief minister was also sent three names to choose one as the vice chancellor. However, the interim government chose not to appoint anyone as it was just days before the new government would take charge. Instead, the interim government opted to halt the appointments there and let the incoming government make the decision.



Apart from these varsities, interviews for the University of Jhang were also held where 40 aspirants were interviewed out of the 140 candidates who had applied for the position there. While universities where interviews are yet to be held are Women University Multan and University of Home Economics Lahore. Whereas, on the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan after an inquiry on the appointment of its former head, the court dismissed the earlier appointment and ordered that appointment be made for the varsity afresh.

The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) had also asked the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) to submit the panel of interviewers for another nine universities in Punjab where some are newly-established while at others the term of the vice chancellors will expire soon. The PHEC has submitted the names for the panel for members of the search committees, as per request by the HED. The process is also halted as the new government is yet to take up the matter.

When contacted, an official told The Express Tribune that at two universities where the appointment process was ongoing, members of the search committees had asked to be removed from the committees as they had other engagements. He said that for the University of Home Economics, Dr Mira Phailbus had been replaced by Dr Najma Najam. For the Women University Multan, Nighat Yawar had also asked to be removed from the committee and a replacement would be made in the coming week, he added.

Earlier, HED had notified the appointments of Dr Zakria Zakar at the University of Okara, Dr Muhammad Tufail at the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan and Dr Muhammad Nasir Afzal as the vice chancellor for the University of Sahiwal. At all three varsities, Dr Zakar topped the interviews. However, he opted to join the University of Okara as its first vice chancellor.



The interim government also faced a challenge while making the appointments and had to halt the process as they had to get clarification on fine points in the Supreme Court of Pakistan's decision on the matter of appointment process. However, after clarification, the interim government went ahead with the appointments.

The previous government of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) could not appoint permanent heads whilst establishing more universities in the province. The PML-N government struggled to appoint vice chancellors at various universities for almost their full term and especially struggled in the final two years of its tenure. Meanwhile, the new Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has appointed Raja Yasir Hamayun Sarfraz as the minister for higher education in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2018.