LAHORE: A search committee on Saturday completed interviews of candidates for the post of vice chancellor at three women universities in Punjab.

A committee member told Dawn that they had compiled the result of the interviews and would send its summary to the chief minister in the coming week to appoint VCs in women universities.

He said the posts of VCs in 12 public sector universities had been lying vacant for the last two years or so, creating several academic and administrative problems there.

He said the current government had taken the step to post VCs in all public sector universities of the province and in the first phase they had completed interviews of the applicants for the post of VCs in three women universities - Faisalabad, Sialkot and Multan.

The member said around 30 candidates for each women university were interviewed. “We found only some of the candidates with a vision to run affairs of the university.”

He said the committee would conduct interviews for the specialised University of Home Economics, Lahore, from Monday (tomorrow).

The member said in the second phase the committee had also shortlisted 10 applicants out of 112 for the post of chairman of Punjab Higher Education Commission and [they] would hold interviews next week.

He said the committee would later start interviews for the post of VCs in general category universities - Bahauddin Zakriya University, Multan, Islamia University Bahawalpur, University of Gujarat, University of Narowal, and Government College University, Faisalabad.

The specialised universities including University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology, Taxila, and University of Home Economics, Lahore.

A five-member search committee was constituted to conduct interviews of the candidates for women universities of the province. The panel was led by convener former Punjab University VC Dr Khalid Hameed Sheikh and other members included former Women Ombudsperson Dr Mira Phailbus, NCA ex-principal Prof Dr Nazish Attaullah, the Higher Education Department secretary and the Punjab Higher Education Commission chairperson.

The committee had shortlisted 30 candidates who applied for the post of VC of the Women University, Multan and Sialkot. The interviews were conducted at the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education office, Lahore.

The shortlisted candidates are: Dr Farhat Saleemi, Dr Uzman Quraishi, Dr Azra Asghar Ali, Dr Rukhsana Kausar, Dr Talay Afza, Dr Rehana Asghar, Dr Shagufta Hussain, Dr Mumtaz Akhtar, Dr Naureen Aziz Quraishi, Dr Seema Mahmood, Dr Mamuna Ghani, Dr Saiqa Imtiaz Asif, Dr Tahira Iqbal, Dr Bushra Mirza, Dr Arifun Nisa Naqvi, Dr Fauzia Maqsood, Dr Khanzadi Fatima Khattak, Dr Farah Kanwal, Dr Robina Farooq, Dr Bushra Khan, Dr Shugufta Naz, Dr Samina Awan, Dr Shazia Anjum, Dr Farkhanda Manzoor, Dr Kausar Malik, Dr Tahira Aziz Mughal, Dr Sofia Anwar, Dr Asmat Naz, Dr Tabasum Jamal and Dr Farah Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2019