ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The syndicate of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) is set to endorse final modalities for the implementation of Tenure Track System (TTS), a new performance-based service structure, on Saturday (today), reliable sources told Dawn.

With the approval of TTS by President Gen Pervez Musharraf as chancellor of the university, the syndicate would decide how it was to be implemented in the university.

A senior teacher of the university told Dawn that after syndicate’s formal approval, teachers would be asked to prepare their application dossiers to be submitted to the administration for TTS. “The dossier will carry all details of the applicant’s academic record,” he said.

For the last well over three years, the QAU had been busy in negotiations with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to make TTS acceptable to the university. So far, over 40 universities have accepted the new form of service structure, under which a teacher can get monthly salary up to Rs175,000.

The TTS, a brainchild of HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, has been introduced to improve upon the teaching standards in the public sector universities.

The basic idea behind introducing the TTS was to retain quality teachers in the public sector, as with the private sector higher educations institutions setting up in the country, teachers are preferring them for better service structures.

Unlike other universities, the QAU faculty wanted to shape it (TTS) according to their own needs, and the HEC after hectic negotiations, had agreed to implement it according to the university’s peculiar requirement.

The university had kept a special provision for reverting to the regular service structure in case the teachers did not feel comfortable with the new system, whereas other universities’ faculty does not have this option.

Associate professors and professors, before switching over to the TTS, would be assessed by three foreign experts, but assistant professors will be adjudged locally.

In response to a question, the teacher said two positive recommendations would be necessary for a teacher to be placed before the university’s selection board for final approval.

Similarly, it will be all up to the selection board whether to offer tenure or track to an applicant. Tenure means permanent switching over to the new service structure, whereas, teachers selected for track would be kept on probation for four years with performance based evaluation after every two years.

Meanwhile, monitoring will be done by the university itself. Since, most of the QAU teachers are doing research and qualify for the new service structure, it is expected that majority of them would be able to avail themselves of the opportunity.