HEC forms committee to probe ghost foreign faculty scandal

The three-member committee will probe the matter and will submit its recommendation within a month

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has constituted a fact finding committee to probe into allegations of irregularities in the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme (FFHP) at GCU Lahore’s Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences. The committee will also review the operation of FFHP at other universities.

The three-member committee will probe the matter and will submit its recommendation to the competent authority within a month. While, the committee will not probe into the details being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at GCU Lahore, it will address the overall concerns arising out of the reports published in a section of the press, and being commented upon on social media.

The Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme was launched by HEC in 2003 to seek services of qualified academics and researchers offering technical support in development of new programmes, providing trainings for teaching and research, and building capacity for PhD supervision.

The foreign faculty programme was not limited to GCU, and around 40 universities across Pakistan benefitted from the qualified visiting experts.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2019.