LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz met seven candidates for vice chancellor (VC) positions at public sector women universities in the province. The candidates invited to the chief minister’s office are believed to be the top choices selected by the search committee.

Sources said that the candidates include acting VC of Lahore College for Women University Dr Uzma Qureshi, Women University Rawalpindi VC Dr Anila Kamal, University of Wah Faculty of Basic Sciences Dean Uzma Ghazanfar, University of Home Economics former VC Dr Kanwal Ameen, HEC member Dr Bushra Mirza, Islamia University Bahawalpur Institute of Chemistry Dean Dr Shazia Anjum, and Government College University acting VC Dr Shazia Bashir. Up to 200 candidates appeared for interviews for the posts of VCs in women universities in the province. Around 50 percent of them were male.

The government had constituted a search committee led by Ayesha Ghus Bakhsh Pasha and other members include Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, retired Capt Zahid Saeed, a bureaucrat, Kinnaird College former principal Ruksana David and secretary HED Dr Farrukh Naveed to conduct the interviews for the positions of VCs in women universities in the province.

The universities include Women University Multan, LCWU, Women University Sialkot, Government Sadiq College Women University Bahawalpur, Government College Women University Madina Town Faisalabad, Home Economics University Lahore, and Fatima Jinnah University Rawalpindi.

Earlier, the chief minister also conducted interviews of 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, and Prof Dr Rauf-i-Azam for the position of VCs in general universities of the province last week.

The universities include 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.

However, the notification of the VCs was not issued by the time of filing this report on Sunday.

However, the HED secretary Dr Farrukh Naveed told Dawn that the notification would be issued in a day or two.

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’s 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 16th, 2024