‘Lowering tenure track criteria will hurt system’

HEC chief says faculty to be facilitated as per rules

ISLAMABAD:

Nearly a week after the apex regulator of higher education in the country capitulated to some demands of tenure-track faculty, the chief of the regulator on Tuesday accused some quarters of trying to destroy the system by lowering its standards.

Addressing a news conference at the Information Department on Tuesday, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri said that the most important factor that determines the quality of any educational institution is the quality of its faculty.

To enhance this resource, he said, the HEC had introduced several measures including scholarships, research and development, and quality assurance policies. Scholarships, he said, were provided for doctorates in philosophy (PhD) and other post-doctoral fellowships, interim placement of fresh PhDs and international research support initiative programmes apart from research grants to individuals and institutions under different schemes.

Finally, he said, the HEC and set minimum standards for faculty appointments and promotion, review of appeals against any violation of the standards.

He explained that the Tenure Track System (TTS) had been introduced as part of a broader quality reform agenda to enhance the performance and productivity apart from attracting capable and talented faculty while creating healthy competition, encouraging excellence in research and teaching. The system, he said, had seen the number of tenure professors increase from 95 in 2005-06 to 3,198 in 2018-19.

So far, Dr Banuri said, some 105 public sector universities and degree-awarding institutions have adopted this system for academic appointments.

The HEC’s governing body, he said, had recently amended the Tenure Track Statutes to reward faculty for superior performance, increase its time frame to acquire tenure in line with international best practices, infuse data-driven and transparent evaluation and management process, and above all, incentivise excellence by introducing a 35% TTS Premium for TTS faculty.

These improvements, he said, are in line with recommendations of the TTS review committee, and aimed at resolving tenure, promotion and recruitment issues on a sustainable basis while ensuring credit for quality.

Accusing some quarters of trying to destroy the system, Dr Banuri claimed that a demand had been put forward that the publication requirements for TTS faculty members should be reduced and that they should be allowed to do other jobs.

“This will ensure the demise of the TTS system. It will also be against the interest of students who deserve to be taught by the best professors,” he claimed.

HEC, its chief said, has extended the maximum length of tenure to nine years for TTS faculty who are unable to complete eligibility requirements for promotion as an associate professor within the stipulated six-year period. Similarly, he said that the HEC has separately issued a notification to enable the TTS faculty to obtain valuable managerial experience by allowing the faculty to take up limited academic-cum-administrative responsibilities.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2020.