May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

FAISALABAD, May 21: Faculty members of the National Textile University (NTU), Faisalabad, have held the administration responsible for deteriorated conditions on the varsity campus which were disturbing the academic activities since April 2, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The faculty members have first time dared to speak out against the management by writing over certain issues, which led to the closure of the university twice.

Sources said the NTU faculty had dispatched a letter titled ‘Faculty's perspective on the current situation at the university’ to the board of governors (BoG) of the institution in which they apprised the board about some ‘hidden’ facts that resulted in the closure of the university.

The university was closed second time on May 13 for a fortnight because of the protest drive launched by students. Earlier, the NTU was closed on April 8. However, it reopened two weeks after closure for the first time.

The students have been demanding the university’s accreditation with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), disbandment of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, an organising body, and resignation of the vice-chancellor Masood Biabani. In their letter, the faculty members said that accreditation of the university with the PEC was the core issue. They said the university administration had failed to accomplish the requirements mandatory for accreditation and improvement of any engineering programme.

Mentioning the PEC requirements, the faculty members said administration could fulfil scores of such prerequisites without spending even a penny. The provisions are: definition of the mission statement of the university, educational objectives of the engineering programmes, organisational structure, students, alumni and employers’ feedback on textile engineering programme initiated by the university, improvement of the NTU website and establishment of students counselling and placement bureau. However, the teachers said that the university management did not give the requisite importance to the PEC certification issue and left the matter in lurch. This issue alone had exposed the management, which was still using delaying tactics, they alleged. An excellent transport system was also mandatory according to the PEC requirements, but no such system existed in the academia. The administration had also discontinued a faculty performance appraisal system started by the BoG, they added.

They also said that management did nothing proactively for the development of institution’s faculty, which was the requirement of the PEC. The management basically intends to authorise a single figure to make decision about the NTU’s fate. Even in the current scenario, faculty members said, the administration had used delaying tactics to resolve the current crisis by exhausting the students instead of looking for appropriate solutions on time.

Suggesting the ways and means to control the situation on the campus, they suggested that BoG should seek feedback not only from the representatives of faculty and staff but also from the students. This way would assist the board to come up with the solution required by the situation, they added.

Senior faculty member of the NTU, Dr Malik Mumtaz, told Dawn that the university teachers had dispatched a letter to the BoG and apprised them about the whole scenario of the academia.