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Let them have a degree of their choice: Campus round-up By Mukhtar Alam After issuing some formal statements at the initial stage on the issue of transferring enrolments of medical students, the concerned officials at the Karachi University and Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) seem to have put the whole affair on the back burner. The DUHS, which has been granted a university charter early this year and is in the process of admitting first batch of MBBS students, has been striving for the transfer of about 3,000 students of the Dow Medical College (DMC) and Sindh Medical College (SMC) who had originally been enrolled with the Karachi University. In case the DUHS succeeded in its plan, many of these students may not get the degree of their choice. Some two weeks back, the DUHS Vice-Chancellor, Prof Masood Hameed Khan, had claimed that in the past, too, enrolment of students from certain institutions had been transferred to the Liaquat University of Health Sciences and the University of Health Sciences of Punjab after the two had been granted the status of a degree-awarding institution. At that time, Vice-Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim of the KU had maintained that any decision about the transfer of enrolment from the KU would be taken only keeping in view the larger interest of the students involved, majority of whom had already taken some of their professional examinations. He thinks that it is obligatory on the part of the KU to safeguard the academic interests of the students. Some senior teachers believe that an arbitrary decision on the transfer issue will be wrong, both legally and morally. They argue that the students had opted for a KU degree and if they are not going to get the same, they must be given an option. "Now when they are half-way through their medical education, it would be unfair to deprive them of the degree of their choice," they say, adding that such an action would badly damage the credibility of KU. The IBA, after it was given the status of degree-awarding institution, did not ask for an abrupt transfer of the students enrolled with the KU. Same is in the case of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology which preferred to keep the enrolment of the students of its two constituent colleges with the KU and allowed them to take examination for a KU degree. Sources in the KU and DUHS say that the VCs of the two universities are looking to the Sindh governor, Chancellor, of the universities, to shift the responsibility from their shoulders. They do not want to come in the picture if some sort of damage is claimed by any of the affected medical students at some later stage. Talking on technical grounds, a senior academician says that a decision has to be taken well in advance so that the students can have some breathing time before accepting it or otherwise. According to the KU schedule, the annul examination of MBBS Part A and B are to be held in January, and if the examination forms of the students are not submitted to the university by DMC and SMC within the stipulated time, the KU will not be able to conduct the examination of these students. However, a source on the KU campus says that the KU authorities are considering to give the medical students an option on either KU degree of a DUHS one. Before taking any decision in regard to the proposed en-bloc transfer of enrolments, the KU wants to ensure that the students had no objection to the move. The university will like the principals of the DMC and SMC to give the option to their respective students and submit their endorsements to the university. An official says that it was the KU's obligation to ascertain the enrolled students' will in this regard. The university has to ensure that the students will not suffer at any stage after the proposed transfer of enrolment, and the DUHS alone will be responsible for any academic problem that may be caused to the students due to the transfer. We don't want to be dragged into litigations in case any mishap occurs, says the official. A source on the campus says that the KU vice-chancellor, who has not given any consent as yet for the transfer, will ask the DUHS to seek the students' opinion. The KU will ask the medical university to furnish an undertaking, after completing the survey, so that the issue of the transfer could be discussed at other forums of the university, the source adds. In regard to any possible intervention by the chancellor, it is said that he may issue an order in favour of the transfer, if he, after ascertaining views of the two VCs and the statutory bodies of the universities, found it pertinent in the larger interest of the students. According to a survey, out of the approximately 3,000 students registered with the KU, 518 are in the first year, 545 in second, 731 in third and 765 in the fourth year. The DUHS, at this stage, intends to get the enrolment of students up to fourth year transferred to it. In the meantime, a source at the DUHS says that the matter needed a serious scrutiny as it involves future of hundreds of students. The vice-chancellor should take his statutory bodies - senate and syndicate - into confidence as well and assess all aspects before rushing for the transfer. Parents are of the view that legally and morally the Karachi University is bound to examine and issue degrees to students enrolled with it over the past several years. "We do not think that the newly-established medical university would be able to bear such a huge load of students suddenly," they believe. Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
