ISLAMABAD: Vice Chancellor Forum (VCF) - a congregation of public sector varsities’ VCs - on Wednesday green-lit the constitution of a committee to prepare a code of conduct for holding student union elections.

The committee, which will be notified by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), will review the rules formed by the Sindh government and Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) for holding student union elections in the country.

Student unions were banned in 1984 by the Zia regime to quell student uprisings against his oppressive rule. The proposed committee will have equal representation of VCs of provincial universities and federal government-run universities.

Sources said that earlier, HEC had sent rules framed by QAU to higher education institutions for consideration. However, VCs of around 35 public sector universities did not agree with those rules.

Therefore, in the VCs’ forum on Wednesday, it was decided to form a committee of VCs which will make a new code of conduct and guidelines for holding the long-awaited elections. The committee’s recommendations will be presented before the next meeting of the VCs’ body to be held next month in Islamabad at the sideline of the International VCs Conference of Islamic Countries.

Earlier, in September 2023, the QAU syndicate made a landmark decision to revive student unions on the campus as then chief justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, being a member of the syndicate, supported the revival of student unions.

Later, a code of conduct was made by QAU and approved by the syndicate. Despite this, the polls were not held.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by HEC after the VCs’ meeting, stated that the meeting brought together the VCs of public sector universities from across the country.

They were invited to find ways to increase the employability of students, achieve self-sustainability of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), move towards digitisation and enhance public-private partnerships.

HEC Chairman Prof Mukhtar Ahmed listed down the agenda of the meeting and set the frequency for a solution-oriented discussion.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2025