LAHORE; Oct 6: The Vice-Chancellors’ Search Committee is starting interviews to select new vice-chancellors for the seven universities as the incumbents have completed their tenure.

The Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, vice-chancellor’s seat had, however, fell vacant as Dr Naseer Khan died in an air crash in July this year.

The five-member search committee, headed by LUMS pro-rector Syed Babar Ali, will hold interviews at the Punjab education department’s secretariat offices on Saturday as well as on Oct 9 and 10. The committee members are former federal finance minister Sartaj Aziz, UET vice-chancellor Mohammad Akram, additional chief secretary Najeebullah Malik and education secretary Khalid Akhlaq Gilani.

Prior to interviews, the education department has short-listed the candidates from over 100 applicants to cut the number in size for interviews for the selection of panels for respective universities.

The seven universities for which new VCs will be selected are the Government College University, Lahore; the Lahore College for Women University; the University of Education; the Bahauddin Zakariya University; the Government College University, Faisalabad; the University of Sargodha; and the Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi.

Sources said the search committee would interview and select a panel of three candidates for each university. They said the committee would be so flexible that it might even ask a selected candidate to include certain university, which he/she did not opt, as a priority for appointment.

The panel of three candidates for each university would be sent to the chief minister for final selection and then notification by the governor.

The sources said the selection criteria was transparent and dispelled the impression that the committee would be giving more weightage to foreign PhD degree holders. They said there were many foreign universities whose PhDs were not even recognised in Pakistan.

They said the candidates having PhD degrees from top universities at home and abroad would obviously be given more weightage than those who got PhD qualification from relevantly weaker universities at home and abroad.