LAHORE: Eleven public sector universities are functioning without regular vice chancellors (VCs), causing administrative as well as academic problems.

Of late, the interim government appointed the vice chancellors of Okara, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan universities on Aug 13 but the process was stopped and the new government has not resumed it so far.

Earlier, the Higher Education Department (HED) had notified the appointments of Prof Dr Zakria Zakar at the University of Okara, Prof Dr Muhammad Tufail at the Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan and Prof Dr Muhammad Nasir Afzal as the vice chancellor of the University of Sahiwal.

However, eleven other universities in the province are still without regular VCs. They are the Lahore College for Women University, the Women University Multan, the University of Home Economics, Lahore, the University of Jhang, the Information Technology University (ITU), Lahore, the Punjab Tianjin University of Technology, the University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, the Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, the PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, and the University of Narowal.

The PHED had constituted search committees only for the University of Jhang, the University of Home Economics, Lahore, the Women University, Multan, and the ITU Lahore.

The government had completed the advertisement, scrutiny, interview and other formalities for the ITU Lahore and three shortlisted names were sent to the interim chief minister, Hassan Askari Rizvi, who left it for the new government by halting the appointment there.

The interviews for the University of Jhang were also held and 40 aspirants were interviewed out of the 140 candidates who had applied for the position there.

Interviews for the VCs of the Women University Multan and Lahore’s University of Home Economics are yet to be conducted.

Meanwhile, the VCs of six other public sector universities in Punjab will complete their four-year tenures during the current year. Prof Dr Naureen Aziz Qureshi of the Government College for Women University, Faisalabad, and Prof Dr Farhat Saleemi of the Government College for Women University, Sialkot, are set to complete their tenures on Sept 9. Prof Dr Mohammad Ali of the Government College University, Faisalabad, Prof Dr Qaiser Mushtaq of the Islamia University Bahawalpur, Prof Dr Fazal Ahmed Khalid of the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore and Prof Dr Ziaul Qayyum of the University of Gujrat will complete tenures on Dec 16.

A senior official told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that at two universities where the appointment process was going on, members of the search committees had asked to be removed from the committees as they had other engagements.

He said that for the University of Home Economics, Prof Dr Mira Phailbus had been replaced by Dr Najma Najam. For the Women University Multan, Nighat Yawar had also asked to be removed from the committee and a replacement would be made in the coming week, he said.

He also said the HED had asked the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) to submit a panel of interviewers for another nine universities in Punjab, including the newly-established and others where the term of the vice chancellors would expire soon.

He said the PHEC had submitted the names for the panel for the members of the search committees to the HED and the new government would soon take up the matter.

The interim government also faced a challenge while making the appointment and had to halt the process as they had to get clarification on fine points in the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s decision on the matter of appointment process.

The PML-N government established new universities in the province but failed to appoint its permanent heads. The previous government struggled to appoint vice chancellors for almost their full term and especially struggled in the final two years of its tenure.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2018