Fuuast gets acting VC as president takes notice of varsity’s administrative crisis

Taking notice of a story published in The News about an administrative crisis in the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast) prevailing for two months due to non-appointment of the institution’s head, the President of Pakistan has appointed Professor Dr Arif Zubair the university’s acting vice chancellor.

According to a press statement issued by the varsity on Tuesday, Professor Zubair has been made the acting VC for a period of six months.

The Fuuast spokesperson said President Dr Arif Alvi, who is also chancellor of the federal varsities, had taken notice of the news published last week about the administrative crisis in the institute. While addressing the faculties, Professor Zubair said the completion of the appointment procedure for the permanent VC was his top priority.

He requested the teachers, students and nonteaching staff to cooperate with the varsity’s interim administration. On the occasion, the teachers assured their support to the acting VC and vowed to stimulate research and academic activities on all campuses of the varsity.

On January 3, The News carried a story titled ‘For last two months, Fuuast has had no VC — and it’s all messy’. The News reported that despite the passage of over two months since the Islamabad High Court verdict set aside the appointment of Prof Dr Altaf Hussain as the Fuuast vice chancellor, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training had yet to appoint a permanent VC.

The non-appointment of VC had adversely affected the administrative affairs in the institution. If the notification to appoint an acting VC was further delayed, the new academic year of 2019-2020 could not start on time. Likewise, the process of endorsement of new admissions and the affairs of affiliation with other institutions could have been disturbed, while the teaching-term of the ongoing semester could also have been further reduced.