LAHORE, Aug 10: Refusal to entertain MA Development Journalism (DJ) degrees by a government department again puts a question mark over the credibility of the Punjab University that launched new post-graduation courses without getting them recognized from the Higher Education Commission (previously UGC) and federal and provincial public service commissions.

Applications of development journalism degree-holders for a BS-17 post in the Population Welfare ministry have not been entertained by the ministry for not being recognized by education and service commissions..

The MA(DJ) was launched on a self-finance basis in 1999 and its two batches with 140 students had passed out. The degree-holders (with each paying Rs50,000 for the two-year programme) have urged the university administration to take immediate measures to save their future. Those studying the programme at the moment are in a fix and intend to move the court.

The practice of recognition of post-graduation degrees in new disciplines introduced by a public sector university or an autonomous institution is not new.

Six post-graduation programmes in different disciplines, including mass communication, launched by the Kinnaird College in 1997-98 were not recognized by any university in the public sector till the beginning of this year.

Similarly, the PU launched a number of self-finance programmes in various post-graduation disciplines over the last couple of years without ensuring that they would be considered equivalent to their main programmes. Though the syndicate did approve all the self-finance programmes, the university took little pain in getting them enlisted with major government departments.

Within the PU, there also seems poor coordination. The examination branch awarded MA (Mass Communication) degrees to a number of students of the first batch of the MA (DJ) last year because the controller’s office was either not aware of the new discipline or it ignored the intimation.

A number of other departments, including the Institute of Business Administrative Sciences, Institute of Education and Research, Economics, Botany, History have launched specialized post-gradation programmes.

The self-finance programmes were initiated by former vice-chancellor Khalid Hamid Shiekh, considering them a good source of income. A department is liable to pay 25 per cent of the income (from the self-finance programme) to the university.

Some university teachers claim that the income generated from the self-finance programmes is not being used to uplift the standard of education.

The PU and its departments have spent over Rs10.5 million from the income of self-finance on the purchase of nine Mercedes vans in the last one-and-half year for their administration officials and heads of the departments which include the resident officer, controller examinations, director of Institute of Administrative Sciences, director of Institute of Business Information Technology and director, Institute of Environmental Sciences. PU registrar Masoodul Haq was not available for comments.

When contacted, Mass Communication chairman Dr Mugheesuddin Shiekh said his department had written letters to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Punjab Public Service Commission, informing them that the MA (DJ) was almost identical to the MA (Mass Communication).

He said the problem was not of the recognition of the degree but getting it introduced at national and international level. “I did ask the department administration at the time of the start of the programme to launch a campaign to introduce it to the UNDP, Unesco and the UGC but it paid a deaf ear to the suggestion.”

He said a majority of M Phil and PhD students in the department possessed MA (DJ) degree which showed its worth.