AWKU waiting for its new VC to take charge

PESHAWAR: The Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan is waiting for its newly appointed vice-chancellor presently based in the United Kingdom to take up his job.

Sources said that Dr Khurshid Ali Khan, who is an associate dean at the Bradford University in UK, is now expected to reach Pakistan in the third or fourth week of August to take charge as the vice-chancellor.

He was selected by the search committee after a tough competition. His name was finalized by the concerned authorities as he was top of the list. Two senior faculty members from the Abdul Wali Khan University were at the second and third spot in the merit list. Dr Saeed Anwar, head of the chemistry department at the university was second in the list and Dr Rahmat Ali, the pro-vice-chancellor at the Malakand University, was at the third position.

Dr Khurshid Ali Khan, who belongs to Mianwali district in Punjab, had reportedly conveyed to the authorities that he would come to Mardan around August 20 after finishing the teaching of the course to his M Phil and other students at the Bradford University.

Another reason being cited for the delay in his arrival in Pakistan to take up his job as the vice-chancellor of Abdul Wali Khan University is the rather unattractive salary package. The government is aware of this issue and for this reason has proposed a raise of Rs500,000 in the salary of the vice-chancellors of public sector university. However, it hasn’t been approved yet and it is unclear when this would be done.

The position of the vice-chancellor at the Abdul Wali Khan University became vacant when its long-serving Vice-Chancellor Dr Ihsan Ali stepped down after completing his term early this year. The violence at the university that resulted in the lynching of student Mashal Khan by fellow students, employees and even outsiders happened when the university didn’t have a vice-chancellor.

Much later Dr Jahanzeb Khalil was appointed the pro-vice-chancellor and the situation at the university started stabilizing.