KARACHI: The search committee responsible for appointing Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology’s (FUUAST) new vice chancellor will meet for the first time today. The position became vacant after the then-FUUAST vice chancellor, Prof. Dr Mohammad Qaiser, took charge of the Karachi University (KU) on February 10, 2012.
FUUAST’s senate had finalised a list of members for the search committee on March 15.
Today’s meeting, convened by Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, Dr Javed Laghari, will be held at HEC’s office in Islamabad. FUUAST had set April 2 as the deadline for submission of applications for the post. A committee member told The Express Tribune that nearly half of the 49 applicants were either senior faculty members or administrative staff at KU and FUUAST. However, renowned academics, such as Lahore University of Management Sciences’ Dr Syed Nomanul Haq and Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education’s rector, Dr Syed Altaf Hussain, also applied. The only female candidate for the job is Sindh University’s Dr Parveen Akhtar Usmani.
Meanwhile, the HEC has formed a three-member “technical committee” of its own to assist the search of the vice chancellor, which does not appear to have gone well wih the members of the FUUAST committee. “HEC has no right to superimpose a ‘technical committee,’ [on us] as there is no room for this in the university’s ordinance,” said one such member while talking to The Express Tribune. “We will decide in tomorrow’s meeting whether there is a need for such uncalled-for assistance or not.”
A senior professor who has applied for the position also expressed the same concern. “How can the [HEC] add three more members to a statutory body under the pretext of a technical committee,” asked the academic.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2012.
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