ISLAMABAD: Protesting university teachers from Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association called off their sit-in on Friday night after successful negotiations with Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The sit-in had gone on for three days. “After successful meeting, we have decided to call off our sit-in,” association’s Secretary General Dr Kaleem Bareach told Dawn.

HEC Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri, he said, held a detailed meeting with the protesting teachers, assuring them that their issues will be resolved with consultation. The interests of faculty members would be considered whilst forming a new policy.

The commission will issue a clarification to universities stating all papers published under the old system will be accounted in the benefit of the faculty and the new policy will be applicable only for papers published after June 30, 2020, he added. Both sides agreed to review the existing policy around gaining experience after getting a PhD on the basis of evidence and rationale, as this was one of the demands made by the protesters.

The new policy will be announced by March 31, 2021, and until it is finalised the existing one will remain suspended, minutes of the meeting stated.

Several other issues, including time scale and new recruitment policy, were discussed.

It has been decided that the backlog of tenure track system (TTS) cases from Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) will be cleared within a fortnight and an exclusive meeting will be held with the university’s new rector to review issues related to recruitment. “CUI will be allowed recruitment only when its system is put in order,” read the minutes, adding, the commission will hold a quarterly meeting with the association to review issues.

Last week, teachers serving under TTS also staged a protest demonstration outside HEC however they were assured by the commission that their issues are being resolved.

On Friday, representatives of the association held a press conference outside HEC against what they called “destructive and disruptive policies.”

A press release issued by the association’s president Dr Sohail Yousaf stated that the HEC chairman failed to secure sufficient funding for higher education and has indulged himself in damaging practices and policies instead.

Research funding has been reduced by orders of magnitude, research culture at universities is being undermined by de-incentivising the research and faculty is being discouraged. Academics is being undermined by diluting the subject specialty and lack of facilities for students, it read.

A few days ago, the commission’s chairman had also held a press conference during which he said HEC has been taking steps towards improvement in the higher education sector.

HEC has initiated a number of programmes for teachers related to their higher studies, professional development as well as providing guidance to universities on streamlining the hiring and promotion processes, he had pointed out, adding research grants have also been increased.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2020