100 candidates short listed for VCs’ appointment

PESHAWAR: Less than 100 applicants out of the total 208 have been declared eligible for the office of vice-chancellor in 11 public sector universities.

A list of the eligible candidates is likely to be submitted to the academic and search committee for the appointment of vice-chancellors within a week for further action.

The positions at the 11 public sector universities were advertised through two separate advertisements. In the first advertisement in newspapers on September 29, the positions at nine universities including University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Shuhada-e-Army Public School University of Technology, Nowshera, University of Peshawar, University of Science and Technology, Bannu, University of Haripur, University of Swabi, Bacha Khan University Charsadda and Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak were advertised.

On November 3, the positions of vice-chancellor at two more universities – Khyber Medical University, Peshawar and Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan – were advertised. The last date for submission of applications for the first nine universities was October 20 and for the remaining two it was November 29.

Sources told The News that some 208 applicants applied for the positions, but less than 90 were declared eligible. The list of the eligible candidates would soon be handed over to the academic and search committee for short-listing and interviews, the sources said.

The sources said the reason for the ineligibility of such a high number of candidates was that majority of the applicants had not arranged conferences as per the required criteria or lacked the requisite administration experience. Most of the senior candidates didn’t produce research papers during the last five years. This was one of the prime requirements for the office of the vice-chancellor, the sources said.

After the shortlisting and panel interviews, the academic and search committee headed by former chairman Higher Education Commission Dr Ataur Rahman would recommend three names for each university to the chief minister through the Higher Education Department. The chief minister on the basis of the search committee’s recommendation would move a summary to the governor/chancellor of public sector universities for final approval of a candidate among the recommended names for the office of vice-chancellor.

The academic and search committee includes some noted academicians from across the country. They are Dr Sohail H Naqvi, former executive director HEC and vice-chancellor LUMS University Lahore, former State Bank of Pakistan governor Dr Ishrat Hussain and Dr Ghulam Abbas Mian, rector Rifah University in Islamabad.

Though all the members of the committee are well-reputed, questions were raised against them when they appointed vice-chancellors of nine public sector universities some months ago. Three of the 11 universities have been functioning under acting heads for the last more than a year as the provincial government had failed to appoint vice-chancellors even after some seven-month long process last time.

These include the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Shuhada-e-Army Public School University of Technology, Nowshera, and Kohat University of Science and Technology.

After the completion of the long process, some faults were found in the credentials of the recommended candidates for the University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar and the Shuhada-e-Army Public School University of Technology, Nowshera while the person appointed for the Kohat University of Science and Technology had declined to join the office. The positions had to readvertised.

Even now the process for the vice-chancellors’ appointment can be hampered by some legal issues as the law department has already sought opinion on the eligibility criteria, which seems to be in contrast with that of the Higher Education Commission.