PESHAWAR: Whether it was Taliban blowing up government buildings or political governments attacking autonomy of the public sector universities through changes in its law, Dr Rasul Jan faced it all with composure and patience.

“When I joined back in 2008 as vice-chancellor of newly announced Malakand University, Talibanisation was on its peak. Contractors feared building universities and schools in Malakand. I took up the responsibility and did not let Malakand University fall into the hands of extremists,” said Dr Rasul Jan sharing the challenges he faced as vice-chancellor of Malakand University during 2008-2012.

Dr Rasul Jan, ranked among top 10 chemists of the country and awarded with Sitara-i-Imtiaz, completed his four-year term as vice-chancellor of University of Peshawar few days ago. He became head of UoP, the oldest and biggest university of the province, after establishing Malakand University.

“I am not associated with any political party but I am a nationalist at heart,” Dr Rasul Jan once told this reporter when he joined University of Peshawar and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government was in conflict with UoP teachers over changes in legislation regarding the university.

He kept denying he had come under any political pressure even when he took immediate action and cancelled the make-up examination allegedly taken by the PTI lawmaker Murad Saeed in violation of rules and regulations at UoP. The sitting MNA has taken the issue to the court but so far seems to be not interested in opening up the case.

There was a lot of hue and cry about Murad Saeed case in media, but a case involving harassment of a girl student by a senior professor, allegedly having friends in the provincial government, was hushed up while Dr Jan professed he had processed the complaint but in not so many words expressed he couldn’t do much about it.

With change in political governments and a lot of noise over changes in legislation relating to UoP, Dr Jan faced everything with patience. His tenure was nothing like his predecessors among whom some were charged of plagiarism and others were accused of using powers more like a military dictator. On the contrary, Dr Jan is a soft-spoken professor with a scholarly look and attitude suiting his profession and work. He kept academic and financial reforms top on his agenda as vice-chancellor of UoP.

The greatest good perhaps he has done to the students is abolishing the evening shift for the four-year Bachelor of Science (BS) Programme. He took this step to improve the quality of teaching and research as well as the quality of grades of the students without caring for financial loss the university was facing due to abolishing this financial-cum-educational scheme.

“It was a risky decision but I took everyone into confidence and abolished it. In next three years, I helped those students complete their degree with good grades,” said Dr Jan.

He also face-lifted some 67 years old University of Peshawar by renovating and building new blocks and hostels for students to study in a better environment. A think-tank Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies was established and one on criminology, to be built with Rs200 million, has been approved. Education and research (BS degree programme) has a new building now.

However, despite all these achievements, Dr Jan feels that changes in the Act of the University of Peshawar might do more damage and his work might go wasted.

The new Act brings teachers and administration into direct conflict and it would bring anarchy in higher education institutions, he predicts.

He says that it would be the biggest challenge for the new vice-chancellor of UoP to avoid this anarchy or conflict between teachers and administration. “If one doesn’t just care to stay in power, then one is not scared of taking risks and facing such challenges,” he opines.

Leaving behind all these pressures of heading the province’s biggest university, Dr Jan would be heading back to his students, laboratory and research papers as professor emeritus at University of Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2017