LAHORE: A decision by the Punjab government to reduce the term of vice chancellors of 10 public sector universities to two years has taken the academics by surprise.

A retired senior faculty member of a prestigious educational institution of Lahore termed the decision `uncalled for’.

“Seeking applications for a post for four-year term and then cutting it by half will have disastrous repercussions. Talented and dynamic teachers already prefer to stay away from public sector educational institutions,” said the senior teacher while seeking anonymity.

A former vice chancellor said there existed a complete procedure to sack head of any educational institution.

“The Punjab Higher Education Commission is empowered to review the performance of the head of any higher education public sector institution on a yearly basis and recommend action in case of any deficiency or shortcoming. Precedent is there as services of two vice chancellors of a public sector university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) had been terminated while remaining in the ambit of law,” said the retired VC.

Through an advertisement in April this year, applications were invited for the slots of VCs of 10 universities for a four-year term. A search committee shortlisted 30 candidates out of 178 aspirants while expressing dissatisfaction with the criteria for the selection of VCs. The committee also had reservations about the candidates shortlisted after the process.

The shortlisted candidates were interviewed by the chief minister and the names of would-be VCs were finalised and sent to the governor for issuing a notification. Meanwhile, the higher education department moved a summary to the chief minister seeking reduction in the term of the VCs. The CM reportedly approved the summary and asked the department to make amendment to the laws governing these universities to reduce the tenure of VCs to two years from existing four years.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2015

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