CM interviews VC candidates for 4 varsities

LAHORE

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday finally interviewed all 12 candidates for the post of Vice Chancellor (VC) of four public universities of the province. Only one of them was interviewed via Skype, it is learnt.

The chief minister interviewed candidates for the Punjab University (PU), Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), University of Sargodha (UOS) and Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering & Technology (MNS-UET) Multan. 

Except the head of the VC Search Committee Syed Babar Ali, all its members including Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha (Punjab Finance Minister), Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi of LUMS, Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin, Chairperson Higher Education Commission Punjab and Secretary Higher Education Punjab Irfan Ali were present.

The VC Search Committee had completed its task of evaluating all the candidates for the posts last month and sent a panel of three candidates for each varsity. Ever since, there had been concern among the applicants in particular and faculty members in general over the delay vis-à-vis interviews by the chief minister. 

The chief minister is the final authority and once he approves the name for each university the summary will be sent to the chancellor/ governor for subsequent appointment order by the Higher Education Department.  

Of all the candidates evaluated by the VC Search Committee two individuals had scored maximum 89 out of 100. They are Prof Dr Shahida Hasnain, a VC candidate for LCWU and Prof Dr Mohammad Zubair, a candidate for (MNS-UET) Multan. Both of them also top the panel for their respective varsities.

The VC Search Committee had set 100 score for the evaluation of the candidates and according to the breakdown there were 20 marks for qualification (with maximum 20 for candidates having PhD from any of the top 500 universities), 20 for teaching and research experience, 20 for administrative experience and 40 for the interview by the Search Committee).

The second highest on the score charts are Prof Dr Uzma Quraishi and Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausar both candidates for the post of VC LCWU with 88 score each. The candidate who remained third on the score chart is the two-time Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran with 85 score despite the fact he received lowest score, 25 (out of 40), in the interview by the VC Search Committee. He is on top among candidates for the PU VC post in terms of score.

According to documents available with The News following are the panels for four universities with scores of each individual out of total 100. 

For Punjab University: Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran 85, Prof Dr Muhammad Zakaria Zakar 83 and Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasar 80. Mueen is also candidate for the University of Sargodha and he was interviewed via Skype on Saturday. 

For LCWU: Prof Dr Shahida Hasnain 89, Prof Dr Uzma Quraishi and Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausar both scored 88.

For University of Sargodha: Prof Dr Tahir Kamran 83, Prof Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad 82 and Prof Dr Zafar Mueen Nasar 80.    

For MNS-UET, Multan: Prof Dr Mohammad Zuber 89, Dr Shahid Munir 84.68 and Prof Dr Aamir Ijaz 83.

Secretary HED Irfan Ali confirmed that the chief minister had interviewed all the candidates on Saturday. To a question he said the competent authority would finalise the appointments.