12 KP universities VCs’ appointments: Candidates called for interview on July 19-20

PESHAWAR: As many as 70 candidates have been called for the interviews for appointment of vice-chancellors of the 12 public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which have been functioning under caretaker setup for the last more than one year.

The interviews are scheduled to be held in Islamabad on July 19 and 20. The academic and search committee headed by Dr Ataur Rahman will conduct the interviews.

Other members of the committee are Dr Arif Nazir Butt from LUMS, Dr Mohammad Hafizullah, former vice-chancellor Khyber Medical University, Dr Muhammad Mujahid of Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Science and Technology, Haripur, Dr Zahoor Swati, former vice-chancellor Agriculture University, Peshawar, Dr Iqbal Chaudhry and secretary higher education department.

“A total of 62 or 63 candidates have been called for interviews. Four persons were allowed by the court to appear in the interviews. They have also been called for the interviews,” a senior officer in the higher education committee told The News.

The search committee as per the court orders would continue the process for the appointment of the vice-chancellors. However, the government has been barred by the court from making the final appointment and even presenting the final list of the short-listed candidates before the cabinet till the court’s decision. The long delay in the appointment of the regular vice-chancellors of a dozen of universities has adversely affected the academic, financial and administrative positions of the universities.

In order to expedite the process of the appointment of vice-chancellors, a high-level meeting was held here a couple of weeks ago with chancellor of the universities and governor of the province Haji Ghulam Ali in chair, had issued directives to the quarters concerned to complete the process without delay and ensure fair play. According to sources, the uneven political situation, lack of permanent government, litigation and some technical hurdles were responsible for the long delay in the appointment of the vice-chancellors.

The positions of vice-chancellors of 12 universities, including Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, University of Shangla, Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak, University of Lakki Marwat, University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, Women University Swabi, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Swat, University of Agriculture, Swat, University of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Swat, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, University of Agriculture, Dera Ismail Khan, and Hazara University, Mansehra, were advertised in August 2002, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was ruling the province.

In November, Ghulam Ali of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam was named governor of the province and ex-officio chancellor of the public sector universities. He believed that it was his discretion to make the appointment of the vice-chancellors.

In January 2023, PTI quit the government and dissolved the provincial assembly and thus a caretaker government was put in place, which had no authority to make appointments against such important positions.

However, interviews for the process were called in February only to be postponed due to a host of reasons, primarily the tension between the chancellor and the search committee.

Then in May again the interviews were convened and postponed too. This time due to court orders as some four applicants had moved the court to challenge the shortlisting and seek their inclusion in the process. Some reports suggested that component parties of the caretaker government wanted reconstitution of the academic and search committee and serious efforts were made for the process but to no avail.

There were reports that owing to the tension between the search committee and the governor’s house, the chairman of the committee had tendered resignation, which could not be accepted.

The component parties of the caretaker government did not want the process to be carried out by the current academic and search committee as they believed that all the members of the said committee were the nominees of the PTI.

They had reservations that the committee would recommend candidates affiliated with PTI and some of the leaders of those parties had expressed their concerns in public.

However, the process for appointment of vice-chancellors is a lengthy one. The academic and search committee would recommend three names for each university after the interview.

The higher education department would then make a summary based on the search committee’s recommendation and send it to the chief minister through the cabinet.

The chief minister after the approval of the cabinet would select one of the three candidates most probably the top one on the list and forward the summary to the governor’s house, which would make the final appointment.