KARACHI: The long wait and speculations over the appointment of Karachi University’s vice chancellor ended on Monday when the acting governor of Sindh, using his powers as the chancellor of public sector universities, appointed Prof Mohammad Ajmal Khan as the 19th vice chancellor of the institution for four years.

Having research and teaching experience spread over four decades, Prof Khan is a recipient of numerous awards that include the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the Pride of Performance and the Distinguished Professor of the Year 2008 by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences on account of his scientific contributions.

He received a PhD in botany from Ohio University in the US, and a DSc (doctorate in science) from Karachi University, where he had served from 1975 till his retirement in 2012.

During his tenure at KU, he acted as the founding director of the Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilisation, a research centre for developing non-conventional crops for saline areas.

Later, he joined Qatar University as the chair in sustainable development and coordinator food security programme.

The appointment has been delayed for almost a year due to multiple reasons, including controversies over the advertisement for vice chancellor’s selection, the shortlisting process, the composition of the search committee and the process of its marking.

During the past year, outgoing KU Vice Chancellor Prof Mohammad Qaiser completed a term of four years besides one year in office due to the delay in the appointment of the 19th vice chancellor.

“We congratulate Prof Khan on the appointment. We expect him to take immediate action regarding the financial crisis the university faces, its security issues, teachers’ promotions as well as students’ problems,” said president of Karachi University Teachers Society Dr Shakeel Farooqi.

Published in Dawn January 24th, 2017