Degree matters: KEMU vice chancellor asked to explain his PhD
Vice chancellor says the degree he is getting from KEMU will not aid his promotion.
LAHORE:
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has written to the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Vice Chancellor asking him to give his comments regarding the awarding of a PhD degree to the Pro-VC of the university. Prof Asad Aslam Khan holds the offices of both Pro-VC and VC.
A letter, PF 12-F-2010 (PG) (KEMU)/242188, signed by the PMDC Assistant Registrar Dr Sitara Hassan has been written to Prof Khan, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Prof Khan was doing his PhD from KEMU under the supervision of the KEMU Pathology Prof Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari. Prof Bukhari is subordinate to Prof Khan.
Official documents made available to The Express Tribune show that the panels of examiners for the evaluation and defense Prof Khan’s thesis, ‘Gene Based Study of Prognostic Evaluation of Retinoblastoma of Eye,’ were approved in a meeting of the Advanced Studies and Research Board under his own chairmanship.
The minutes of the meeting reveal that when Agenda Item No 5 (approval of examiners for Professor Asad Aslam Khan) was tabled, Prof Khan left the room.
PMDC has taken notice of the situation and asked Prof Khan to submit a detailed reply. Senior professors and KEMU faculty members told The Tribune that the PMDC does not allow KEMU to conduct PhDs in Clinical Sciences.
“How can a professor of pathology supervise a PhD. It is strange when the VC is a student at his own university and can award himself a PhD degree. This is very dubious. PMDC has done the right thing by taking this issue up,” a KEMU professor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Tribune.
Professor Bukhari said he was qualified to supervise a PhD thesis in any clinical science subject. “Professor Khan is doing a PhD in clinical sciences and his supervisor needs to be a person who knows research and can guide him,” he said.
“There is a clash between PMDC and Higher Education Commission (HEC) over PhD programmes. PMDC doesn’t allow KEMU to carry PhD programmess in clinical science while the HEC has allowed us. Even if PMDC doesn’t recognize Prof Khan’s PhD it will make no difference as he already holds a post-graduation degree in surgery and will continue to practice on the basis of that degree. His new degree is a research degree and is approved by the HEC,” Prof Bukhari said.
“I have been told by many that I need to be more careful as my student is the VC. We are making every thing about this PhD transparent and fair,” he added.
Prof Bukhari added, “We don’t have qualified people so as an adjunct faculty member of the HEC I am allowed to supervise any PhD in clinical sciences for five years.”
He stressed that the topic of Prof Khan’s PhD was related to pathology.
KEMU VC Prof Khan said, “I will write my response to the PMDC letter within a few days. We were busy with Muharram duties so I couldn’t respond earlier.”
“I enrolled to do my PhD through Punjab University because at the time of my enrollment KEMU wasn’t a university. I started my PhD course during the tenure of the former KEMU VC and Registrar. At that time I was not the VC,” he added. He added that his supervisor just guided him on his research and had nothing to do with awarding him the degree. “The thesis goes abroad for evaluation. My supervisor is not my examiner.”
Professor Khan said when his synopsis was being approved he had walked out of the meeting so that the approval could be judged in a fair and transparent manner.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.
The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) has written to the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Vice Chancellor asking him to give his comments regarding the awarding of a PhD degree to the Pro-VC of the university. Prof Asad Aslam Khan holds the offices of both Pro-VC and VC.
A letter, PF 12-F-2010 (PG) (KEMU)/242188, signed by the PMDC Assistant Registrar Dr Sitara Hassan has been written to Prof Khan, The Express Tribune has learnt.
Prof Khan was doing his PhD from KEMU under the supervision of the KEMU Pathology Prof Dr Mulazim Hussain Bukhari. Prof Bukhari is subordinate to Prof Khan.
Official documents made available to The Express Tribune show that the panels of examiners for the evaluation and defense Prof Khan’s thesis, ‘Gene Based Study of Prognostic Evaluation of Retinoblastoma of Eye,’ were approved in a meeting of the Advanced Studies and Research Board under his own chairmanship.
The minutes of the meeting reveal that when Agenda Item No 5 (approval of examiners for Professor Asad Aslam Khan) was tabled, Prof Khan left the room.
PMDC has taken notice of the situation and asked Prof Khan to submit a detailed reply. Senior professors and KEMU faculty members told The Tribune that the PMDC does not allow KEMU to conduct PhDs in Clinical Sciences.
“How can a professor of pathology supervise a PhD. It is strange when the VC is a student at his own university and can award himself a PhD degree. This is very dubious. PMDC has done the right thing by taking this issue up,” a KEMU professor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Tribune.
Professor Bukhari said he was qualified to supervise a PhD thesis in any clinical science subject. “Professor Khan is doing a PhD in clinical sciences and his supervisor needs to be a person who knows research and can guide him,” he said.
“There is a clash between PMDC and Higher Education Commission (HEC) over PhD programmes. PMDC doesn’t allow KEMU to carry PhD programmess in clinical science while the HEC has allowed us. Even if PMDC doesn’t recognize Prof Khan’s PhD it will make no difference as he already holds a post-graduation degree in surgery and will continue to practice on the basis of that degree. His new degree is a research degree and is approved by the HEC,” Prof Bukhari said.
“I have been told by many that I need to be more careful as my student is the VC. We are making every thing about this PhD transparent and fair,” he added.
Prof Bukhari added, “We don’t have qualified people so as an adjunct faculty member of the HEC I am allowed to supervise any PhD in clinical sciences for five years.”
He stressed that the topic of Prof Khan’s PhD was related to pathology.
KEMU VC Prof Khan said, “I will write my response to the PMDC letter within a few days. We were busy with Muharram duties so I couldn’t respond earlier.”
“I enrolled to do my PhD through Punjab University because at the time of my enrollment KEMU wasn’t a university. I started my PhD course during the tenure of the former KEMU VC and Registrar. At that time I was not the VC,” he added. He added that his supervisor just guided him on his research and had nothing to do with awarding him the degree. “The thesis goes abroad for evaluation. My supervisor is not my examiner.”
Professor Khan said when his synopsis was being approved he had walked out of the meeting so that the approval could be judged in a fair and transparent manner.
“We are cultivating the culture of research at KEMU. It this is a good thing if a sitting VC is doing a PhD. This PhD will have no affect on my promotion,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2012.