18th Amendment: FAPUASA calls for effective implementation

Central president says principled stance is to ensure autonomy of universities and HECs

LAHORE: Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Central President Dr Mahboob Hussain has demanded effective implementation of 18th Constitutional Amendment in the higher education sector. He believed this could be achieved by strengthening the provincial Higher Education Commissions of Punjab and Sindh, while establishing provincial HECs in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Referring to decisions of Council of Common Interests (CCI), supreme constitutional body, he emphasised over amending the respective acts of the federal and provincial HECs accordingly. He pointed out that the CCI has distributed higher education functions between the federal and provincial governments.

He said that the FAPUASA's principled stance is to ensure the autonomy of universities and HECs. He urged the PTI government to form new search committees comprising eminent academics with sound experience in public sector universities. Hussain stressed this would ensure transparent appointments of vice chancellors, in line with commitments made by PTI in its election manifesto.

He said that ad-hocism and non-merit based appointments have adversely affected the performance of the higher education sector. It is a high time to learn from past mistakes and ensure good governance in the higher education sector by promoting a culture of merit and transparency.

He said that in order to ensure transparency, FAPUASA would monitor all the key appointments of vice chancellors at the federal and provincial levels. He said that without consultations and involvement of all the concerned stakeholders, especially elected representatives of universities faculty in key policy decisions, the desired results could not be achieved.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2018.