Punjab

Punjab HED plans to form new search committee

Minister says all public universities will have vice chancellors by year end

Adnan Lodhi September 16, 2018

Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Chairman Dr Nizamuddin PHOTO: WASEEM NIAZ/EXPRESS

LAHORE: The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has planned to abolish the search committee formed to conduct interviews for the slot of vice chancellors in public sector universities across the province.

According to sources in HED, a new search committee will be formed as educationalists and professors had expressed reservations over the previous body.

According to the plan, a new search committee will be set up on the model of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and renowned educationists and research scholars in the country will be a part of the body. The committee will complete the appointments for vice chancellors at 11 universities across Punjab; the posts have been vacant for an extended period of time and academic affairs have been disturbed due to the absence of vice chancellors.

HEC meeting: Govt supporting higher education: Mahmood

Provincial Education Minister of Higher Education Department Raja Yasir Humayoun Sarfraz has given instructions to HED about setting up the new committee as a number of members were not from academia while some of them did not possess PhD degrees.

The Academic Staff Associations (ASA) expressed concerns saying it is unacceptable for them to have individuals without academic backgrounds select VC's for universities.

Now with the change of the government, the minister took the first initiative over this issue and directed officials to set up a new search committee.

The minister directed HED officials to send him names of renowned scholars for the selection of members of the search committee.

A senior HED official quoted the minister as saying all the universities across the province will have vice chancellors by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, to complete the slots of teachers at universities and colleges, HED also withdrew a ban on transfer postings. Teachers were directed to submit applications to HED starting Monday (tomorrow). Applications will not be accepted after October 1.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2018.