LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz met 11 candidates for vice-chancellor (VC) positions at public universities on Monday.

The candidates invited to the chief minister’s office are believed to be the top choices selected by the search committee.

Sources say the candidates are Prof Dr Naeem Ahmad Khan, Prof Dr Zubair, Prof Dr Mumtaz Anwar, Dr Hammad, Dr Inayat, Prof Dr Shujah, Prof Dr Shahid Munir, Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, Prof Dr Rauf-e-Azam, and Prof Dr Akif.

The meeting was also attended by the chief secretary, special secretary, and Minister for School Education Rana Sikandar Hayat.

Sources said the notification of the appointment of the VCs is expected to be issued within a day or two.

The search committee, led by former bureaucrat Ismail Qureshi and including members such as retired Lt-Gen Muhammad Asghar, Farkhanda Wasim Afzal, and Amjad Saqib, conducted interviews for the appointment of regular VCs in eight general public sector universities of the province in August.

Up to 400 applicants have been shortlisted for these interviews, which are being conducted step-by-step at the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) office. Initially, interviews are being conducted for positions at the University of the Punjab, Government College University Lahore, Government College University Faisalabad, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Islamia University Bahawalpur, University of Gujrat, University of Education Lahore, and University of Narowal.

Earlier, the search committee had completed interviews for the Khwaja Fareed University of Information Technology in Rahim Yar Khan and the Information Technology University in Lahore. Over 60 applicants appeared before the committee for these interviews.

Officials from the Higher Education Department said the department sent a summary of the search committee’s recommendations for the appointment of VCs in these universities to the chief minister’s office. The committee has nominated three candidates for each VC position. The CM office will select two candidates from these nominations and forward them to the governor for the issuance of appointment notifications.

For the past two years, 30 public sector universities have been operating without regular VCs.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2024