27 January 2004	Tuesday	04 Zilhaj 1424

LAHORE, Jan 26: Federal Science and Technology Minister Prof Dr Attaur Rehman has said that only scholars and academicians should be appointed vice-chancellors to provide academic leadership to universities.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Prof Rehman, who is also chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), admitted that there was no mechanism available for selection and appointment of vice-chancellors in universities.

He, however, said that the Model University Ordinance (MUO) approved by the federal cabinet had proposed a research committee to select a vice-chancellor from amongst scholars and academicians.

Answering a question, he said the HEC in consultation with the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) and the provincial governments was revising the MUO and the Tenure Track System (TTS) to remove teachers' reservations.

Denying that the federal government had any intention to impose the MUO and the TTS, he said both the ordinance and the system had already been implemented in some universities. He also said the TTS was applicable to all disciplines.

He said the HEC would definitely remove teachers' reservations about the federal cabinet's approved 14th version of the ordinance to develop a consensus document. Similarly, he said, teachers' reservations about the TTS, including protection of their jobs, would also be addressed.

IT UNIVERSITY: Answering a question, Prof Rehman said the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) board of governors had withdrawn its offer of handing over its campus for the establishment of an IT university because the Punjab government did not pay any heed to its offer for full one year.

He said the institute owned by the labour ministry was currently offering education to around 1,500 students and was fully functional. He, however, admitted that the CIIT had restarted discussing the matter with the Punjab government on the personal intervention of the prime minister.

He said both the parties were discussing that what would happen to 1,500 students currently being studying on the campus, if it would be handed over to the Punjab government. He said the federal government was also considering to fund the Punjab government to establish the proposed IT university at some other place in the city.

RATING SYSTEM: Prof Rehman said the HEC was going to introduce a rating system for universities as well as individual departments owing to the mushroom growth of universities and degree-awarding institutions in the country. "This exercise will help students to select universities for higher studies."

Answering a question, he said, the HEC had decided to close down all those private sector universities that would not come up to the yardstick finalized by the commission some two-and-a-half-year ago. He said these universities were given five years to maintain these standards otherwise their charters would be reverted as degree-awarding colleges.

FOREIGN FACULTY: The minister said the government was also working to hire foreign faculty under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme. He said some 155 teachers had applied out of whom 57 teachers had been selected and were being placed in different universities in the country. "The government plans to hire around 1,500 foreign faculty members during the next five years," he said.

PhD ALLOWANCE: Answering a question about the non-payment of PhD allowance to doctorate degree holders in languages, Prof Rehman said these faculty members would also be issued this allowance in due course of time. He said the PhD allowance was started on the initiative of the ministry of science and technology for science subjects and later it was also allowed to those having PhD degrees in social sciences. "There must be a balanced growth in all disciplines," he said.

Prof Rehman also said the federal government had allocated Rs4.25 billion budget to send 800 scholars to do their PhDs abroad during the next five years. He said the public and private sector universities would have a 50 per cent quota each.

NOMINATION: He said the HEC had given best teacher awards to 22 university teachers on the recommendation of respective universities. Answering a question, he said, the HEC had developed a proforma and sent to the universities for teachers' evaluation by their students. "Students' evaluation of their teachers will be a critical point in deciding for the best teacher award.

POLITICAL INTERFERENCE: Answering a question, he said, the Punjab government had not consulted the HEC before introducing the bill for the nomination of three MPAs in respective universities' syndicates.

CHANCELLOR'S COMMITTEE: He said the Chancellor's Committee headed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf had been established to discuss and monitor all activities relating to universities and higher education sector. He said the committee's first meeting was expected to be held by the end of next month.

He said the federal cabinet had decided to develop a vision document to ensure imparting of quality of education to students. He also said that the committee would also ponder over the issue of masses' access to higher education. Currently, he said, only 2.9 per cent population of 17-23 years age group had an access to higher education.

ILLEGAL CAMPUSES: Answering a question, Prof Rehman said provinces were required to take action against the illegal campuses. Saying that legally the HEC could not take action, he added that the provinces must act immediately.

IT COLLEGES: Prof Rehman said the HEC had no power to regulate the private information technology colleges but the ministry of education and the IT division. He said that he had also replied to the federal IT minister that the HEC could not do anything in this regard.

CURRICULA REVISION: He said the HEC had revised almost all disciplines' curricula in collaboration with the university professors and communicated to universities as a minimum guidelines.

DIGITAL LIBRARY: Prof Rehman said a nation-wide digital library would be launched within two months for use by the public and private sector universities and institutions. He said the students would be able to download free of cost some 11,500 research journals and extracts of about 20,000 other journals.

TV CHANNELS: He said the government had also planned to start four new TV channels under the Virtual University of Pakistan purely for educational purposes. He said that two channels would start functioning by the end of March while the other two channels by the end of this year. At this time, he said that only two TV channels' licences had been issued by the Pemra.

He said the PakSat1 channel would be used purely for educational purposes. He said four transponders would be available to link public and private sector educational institutions across the country.

DEBRIEFING: Prof Rehman said that the nation must honour the scientists. He, however, said that no body was above the law and the scientists could also be investigated whether Pakistan's nuclear technology secrets were illegally passed on to the other countries or not.