03 October 2004	Sunday	17 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Oct 2: Vice-chancellors of the University of Karachi and the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) appeared to be in serious discord over the issue of the transfer of hundreds of medical students enrolled with the KU.

Talking to Dawn on Saturday, the Vice-Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim of the KU said that his university had not taken a decision yet on the transfer of DMC and SMC students to the DUHS.

"It is premature at this moment to say that the university has agreed to transfer about 3,000 students to the DUHS," he said, adding that any decision in this respect would be taken keeping in view the larger interest of the concerned students.

He said that students and parents had been calling him over telephone to express their concern over the DUHS move. It was obligatory on the part of the university to safeguard the academic interest of students, he added.

In reply to a question, he said that the DUHS had sought some information with regard to the DMC and SMC students enrolled at KU and the controller of examination had been advised to act accordingly. However, he said, this could not be regarded as a decision.

He said that he would also have to take the university's statutory bodies into confidence before doing that.

The DUHS vice-chancellor had never mentioned that why did he want to get the enrolment of students belonging to the old batches of the DMC or SMC shifted from KU to DUHS. "It is likely that we (the two VCs) will meet on the issue in a couple of days," he said, adding that the university would surely like to have a consensus among the students in question on the issue as well, and it might ask the two concerned colleges to give their students the option of either KU or DUHS degree.

On the contrary, the DUHS Vice-Chancellor, Prof Masood Hameed, says that everything has been settled. "Getting the enrolment transferred from KU is our policy and we are in a sound position under the charter granted by the Sindh government," he added.

He said that controllers of examination at DUHS and KU were coordinating with each other in regard to transfer of records of students enrolled during the last four years.

He did not give any reason behind his move for shifting of#enrolment, but said that in the past, too, enrolment of students from certain other institutions had been transferred to Liaquat University of Health Science, NED University of Engineering and Technology and the University of Health Sciences of Punjab after these institutions had been granted the status of a degree- awarding institution.

A KU official said that DUHS had approached the University of Karachi with a request for a complete list of enrolled students, and copies of examination record of students of some batches. "The same would be provided to it only when the KU vice-chancellor allowed us to do so," he added.

The DUHS has neither asked for shifting of admission forms and relevant documents to it, nor did the KU consider handing over of the documents. As such, the impression that the students were being transferred was without any ground, the official maintained.

Meanwhile, Prof Masood Hameed, claimed that the University of Karachi would transfer enrolment of 2,559 students of DMC and SMC registered with the KU in the academic year 2003-2004 for undergraduate medical education, add agencies.

According to him, these students are studying in the first, second, third and fourth year MBBS.

Prof Hameed expressed his formal gratitude to Dr Pirzada Qasim for transferring the enrolment of the professional MBBS students to the DUHS.

He clarified that DUHS had now been accredited by the HEC and, therefore, its degrees and certificates stood recognized.