ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission has constituted a fact-finding committee to look into allegations of irregularities in the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme (FFHP) at Government College University (GCU) Lahore’s Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences.

The committee has been constituted following an article written by Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy in Dawn, titled ‘Our Ghost Mathematicians’. The commission has said the committee will also review the operation of the FFHP at other universities.

“The three-member committee will probe the matter and will submit its recommendation to the competent authority within one month. While, the committee will not probe into the details being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at GCU Lahore, it will address the overall concerns arising out of the reports published in a section of the press, and being commented upon on social media,” said a statement issued by the HEC on Tuesday.

It added that the FFHP was launched in 2003 to seek the services of qualified academics and researchers offering technical support in the development of new programmes, provide training for teaching and research and build capacity for PhD supervision.

Committee will also review operation of Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme at other universities

“The foreign faculty programme was not limited to GCU, and around 40 universities across Pakistan benefitted from the qualified visiting experts. Over 300 highly qualified professors joined various universities under this programme,” the statement said.

According to Dr Hoodbhoy, dozens of European mathematics professors were flown into Pakistan at the government’s expense between 2003 and 2013 under the FFHP.

He said a large portion of budget went to the GCU affiliate Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences, which received Rs638 million from the HEC for salaries and airfare.

In the article, he wrote that these professors were listed as fulltime faculty at the school with salaries convertible to euros and dollars. Some were paid for up to eight years.

“They were supposed to teach students all year round, supervise their research, and add to overall national prestige by publishing high-level mathematics research using their Pakistani institutional address, i.e. that of SMS. This did not happen. Some foreign professors visited Lahore for just four to five months of the year, others for half this time, and still others for at most four to six weeks,” he wrote.

“Still, apart from those on short-term appointments, year after year all were paid a full 12-month salary. When later asked, some said Lahore was too hot while others said it was too dangerous,” he added.

He said that these professors’ research publications did not carry the school’s name even though they were formally full-time employees. He alleged that it was clear that several were making brief junkets to Pakistan while actually being employed elsewhere.

Dr Hoodbhoy wrote the article on the basis of an investigation report prepared by the school highlighting irregularities and flaws in the programme.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2019