IIUI’s financial report sought
A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training sought on Tuesday the financial report of the past five years from the International Islamic University (IIU) over reports of financial irregularities.
The subcommittee in its meeting discussed the conditions of the universities under the Higher Education Commission. After receiving a briefing on the IIU, the subcommittee also directed the university administration to submit its strategy for the next five years.
During the discussion, subcommittee member Andaleeb Abbas raised the objection that there were many illegal posts in IIU, and claimed that key positions in the university were filled on the basis of nepotism. She also said that harassment cases had been reported in the university including a case of sexual abuse.
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Another member, Sadaqat Abbasi, raised question about the money earned by the university in the last five years. Dr Shazia Aslam sought to know how many PhD students were working in the university.
IIU Rector Dr Masoom Yaseenzai told the committee that the university ranked second among the five top universities of Pakistan. He said that the university had the enrolment of 30,000 students, including 3,000 international students, among them 900 Chinese.
Yaseenzai told the subcommittee that as per rules, a PhD student could not work in the same university, adding that an alumnus could only be hired after five years of his graduation from the university.
Abbasi asked whether there was any funding coming from outside. Yaseenzai replied that the university had a lot of foreign funding in the past but no funds had been received post-9/11.
Abbasi lamented that the plan for recruitment to the vacant posts had not been implemented. However, the rector responded that the administration had been implementing it and the vice-chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University was already working on it.
Andalib Abbas also raised the question about the implementation of the plan, saying that the university could not chalk out its strategy in eight months so its discourse for the future implementation was also doubtful.
Abbasi said that 36% of the IIU funding was provided by the government, while the university was also charging fees from the students, still the university could not bear its expenses. The subcommittee sought financial report for the last five years and strategy for the next five years within a week.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2021.