Demand removal of politicians from varsity governing bodies .
The meeting was dominated by discussion on political pressure from various elected government representatives that concerned university heads.
Since the media was not allowed to cover the event, The Express Tribune talked to the vice-chancellors’ on and off the record about the happenings of the day.
Political pressure
The University of Sargodha (UoS) Vice-Chancellor Dr Muhammad Akram said three members of the Punjab provincial assembly were also members of the institute’s syndicate and had been pressuring the administration concerning appointments on certain positions.
He said the MPAs later took the matter to the Punjab chief minister and started a campaign to get him removed from his position just because he had refused to succumb to their pressure.
Another official of the UoS said they had not held a syndicate meeting since March 26, 2014.
Another VC of a university in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa discussed how the brother of a provincial lawmaker misbehaved with the head of the University of Swabi.
The lawmaker’s brother was interested in the appointment of an individual from his native village.
A vice-chancellor of a university from Punjab shared his story as to how MNA Abid Sher Ali threatened him and misbehaved with him in his office over the issue of appointments.
Some other varsity heads demanded removal of politicians from the governing body or syndicate committee of universities to do away with pressure from the non-academics.
Moreover, the passage of the K-P Universities Act that takes powers away from the governor, who holds the position of chancellor of the universities and concentrates them in the hands of the chief minister, and a similar situation in Sindh, was also discussed at the meeting. Some participants termed it giving powers in the hands of the bureaucracy.
University of Haripur VC Dr Nasir Ali Khan demanded a discussion on the matter, which he claimed would damage the cause of higher education.
“It will be disastrous if the powers go to the baboos (bureaucracy) as the academics will be left high and dry at the hands of those who have nothing to do with education directly,” he remarked.
The HEC chairperson said the autonomy of varsities must be protected as turning them into political power houses would serve nothing rather add to the problems.
The VCs as well as the HEC chairperson, later in a resolution, also condemned such events and demanded from the federal and provincial governments to take account of such developments.
Sub-campuses
Another issue discussed was the mushroom growth of sub-campuses. According to the dossier handed over to the VCs by the HEC, a severe decline in the quality of higher education has been observed during the past few years due to poor and substandard institutions.
VCs also agreed to close the MS and PhD programmes at sub-campuses.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2015.
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