ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has given yet another extension to its executive director (ED) Dr Shaista Sohail while the Establishment Division issued a formal notification for the appointment of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed as the new chairman HEC.

The new chairman HEC will resume the office on Monday (today).

A notification issued by the the HEC dated July 29 stated: “The commission has accorded approval to extend the appointment of Dr Shaista Sohail as Executive Director HEC on contract basis for a period of six months w.e.f 01-08-2022 or till the appointment of a regular Executive Director whichever is earlier.”

A civil servant, Dr Sohail joined the HEC in October 2020 on deputation basis and retired from service in August 2021 after reaching the age of superannuation.

Since then, she has been holding the post of the ED on temporary and contractual basis as higher education regulatory body has no regular ED. The post of the regular ED, who acts as the principal accounting officer, fell vacant in October 2018 after resignation of Dr Arshad Ali.

After his resignation, the HEC advertised the post four times but, as per officials in the commission’s regulatory body, it could not find a suitable candidate. In the fourth attempt - in February this year - the HEC through a controversial selection board finalised some names to fill the post but the education ministry and the federal government refused to endorse the meeting of the selection board.

“Now, we have a new chairman HEC and soon we will start the process to appoint a new ED. Meanwhile, Dr Shaista, who has been performing brilliantly will continue serving as the ED ,” said an official of the HEC.

Meanwhile, the Establishment Division on Sunday, following a notification from the Prime Minister Officer, formally notified the appointment of Dr Mukhtar Ahmed as the HEC chairman for a two-year term.

Dr Ahmed had served as the ED and chairman of the HEC from 2014 to 2018. Sources said he will face several challenges as many issues at the HEC are awaiting resolution.

They said the new chairman will have to face the challenge while implementing the undergraduate and new PhD policies which were formulated during the tenure of the former chairman Dr Tariq Banuri but their implementation was delayed till September this year.

The majority of heads of universities have shown their concerns over these two polices.

These policies were introduced by HEC in Dec 2020 and Jan 2021 which drew strong reactions from the vice chancellors resulting in the delay in their implementation.

The VCs were of the view that without getting any input from the universities, the major stakeholders, the HEC had finalised the policies which were

practically not feasible for implementation in the current forms.

Similarly, the new chairman will face the challenge while handling the service structure issues of Tenure Track System (TTS) and Basic Pay Scale (BPS). Officials said above all, he will face the challenge of funding for universities as this year the government has earmarked a Rs66 billion recurring grant against the Rs104 billion demand put by the HEC.

They said the new chairman will have to use his contacts for getting additional funds for the universities.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2022