Governor approves first VC of IT university
January 18, 2013
LAHORE
THE Punjab governor/chancellor has approved the name of Dr Umar Saif, chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), as the first ever vice-chancellor of the newly-established Information Technology University (ITU) Punjab, it is learnt.
Recently, the VC Search Committee had recommended three candidates, namely Dr Umar Saif, Prof Dr Muhammad Sher, chairman Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering of the International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad, and Prof Dr Shaiq A Haq of the University of Wah, for the said post.
Sources, privy to the development, said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, however, had approved the name of Dr Saif for the ITU which was subsequently forwarded to Governor/Chancellor Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood who, surprisingly, approved it without any objection.
It is pertinent to mention here that appointment of VCs has remained a hot issue between the chief minister and the governors in the past as witnessed during the respective tenures of the late Salman Taseer and Sardar Latif Khosa.
The sources further said after his appointment as VC ITU, Dr Umar Saif had to resign from the chairmanship of the PITB, from where he was drawing a hefty salary package as he could not hold both the offices. Explaining the same, they said that it’s the governor whop determined the terms and conditions of service of the vice-chancellor, adding the PITB was purely under the administrative control of the Punjab government. They also said there was no precedent that a VC had held another office at the same time.
It is also pertinent to mention that besides the three short-listed candidates, 10 others had applied for the post of the VC ITU. They were: Dr M Aslam, Dr Muhammad Saleem, Dr Javed Ahmed, Dr M Yaqoob Nasir, Dr M Saleem, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Dr M Ashfaq, Dr Abdul Aziz, Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal and Dr Naveed A Malik. Almost all those who had applied for the post had far more teaching and administrative experience than Dr Umar Saif.
The sources also said Dr Umar Saif would be the youngest VC in the history of Pakistan once the Punjab Higher Education Department formally issue notification regarding his appointment. They added the notification would be issued soon.
According to Dr Umar Saif’s profile present on the website of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where he is a faculty member as well, he has received his academic training from LUMS, Cambridge and MIT. He did his BSc (Hons) from LUMS (1998), PhD from University of Cambridge (2001) and Postdoctorate from MIT (2002), all in Computer Science.
Higher Education Department Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir confirmed the development and said that notification in this regard will be issued soon.
THE Punjab governor/chancellor has approved the name of Dr Umar Saif, chairman of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), as the first ever vice-chancellor of the newly-established Information Technology University (ITU) Punjab, it is learnt.
Recently, the VC Search Committee had recommended three candidates, namely Dr Umar Saif, Prof Dr Muhammad Sher, chairman Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering of the International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad, and Prof Dr Shaiq A Haq of the University of Wah, for the said post.
Sources, privy to the development, said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, however, had approved the name of Dr Saif for the ITU which was subsequently forwarded to Governor/Chancellor Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood who, surprisingly, approved it without any objection.
It is pertinent to mention here that appointment of VCs has remained a hot issue between the chief minister and the governors in the past as witnessed during the respective tenures of the late Salman Taseer and Sardar Latif Khosa.
The sources further said after his appointment as VC ITU, Dr Umar Saif had to resign from the chairmanship of the PITB, from where he was drawing a hefty salary package as he could not hold both the offices. Explaining the same, they said that it’s the governor whop determined the terms and conditions of service of the vice-chancellor, adding the PITB was purely under the administrative control of the Punjab government. They also said there was no precedent that a VC had held another office at the same time.
It is also pertinent to mention that besides the three short-listed candidates, 10 others had applied for the post of the VC ITU. They were: Dr M Aslam, Dr Muhammad Saleem, Dr Javed Ahmed, Dr M Yaqoob Nasir, Dr M Saleem, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Dr M Ashfaq, Dr Abdul Aziz, Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal and Dr Naveed A Malik. Almost all those who had applied for the post had far more teaching and administrative experience than Dr Umar Saif.
The sources also said Dr Umar Saif would be the youngest VC in the history of Pakistan once the Punjab Higher Education Department formally issue notification regarding his appointment. They added the notification would be issued soon.
According to Dr Umar Saif’s profile present on the website of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), where he is a faculty member as well, he has received his academic training from LUMS, Cambridge and MIT. He did his BSc (Hons) from LUMS (1998), PhD from University of Cambridge (2001) and Postdoctorate from MIT (2002), all in Computer Science.
Higher Education Department Secretary Dr Ijaz Munir confirmed the development and said that notification in this regard will be issued soon.
