VCs concerned over proposed amendments to Varsities Act

LAHORE:Days after faculty members of public sector universities raised their voice against the proposed amendments to the acts of public sector universities of Punjab, some vice-chancellors (VCs) also took to social media expressing strong concerns over the proposed amendments.

One of the proposed amendments is about appointment of retired judges or bureaucrats, as heads of syndicate of the public universities which according to the stakeholders was an effort to deprive universities of their autonomy. In a tweet, Punjab University (PU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar wrote that destroying policy of public institutions like public schools, colleges, hospitals, transport etc shall not be repeated in public universities. “Kindly respect and trust your teachers,” he urged the government in his tweet.

Earlier, GC University Lahore VC Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi while quoting a tweet questioned should a vice-chancellor act as “deputy Secretary” of Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab. “Can someone show me one good university in the world that runs well under the command of the government?” he said while observing autonomy and provision of resources should become the basis of the growth and quality of higher education.

Meanwhile, GC University Lahore’s Academic Staff Association (ASA), in consultation with the whole faculty, has expressed strong reservations about the University Amendment Act 2020 and the anti-education policies of HEC.

President ASA-GCU, Dr Atif Shahbaz and General Secretary Dr Ahtisham Ali said that if the government attempted to undermine the sovereignty and independence of the universities, the university employees would be compelled to protest. The government has already expressed its ill-will towards higher education by cutting the budget for HEC and denying pay-raise to university employees. In these circumstances, any attempt to reduce the autonomy of the universities would be met by strong resistance from the GCU faculty.