Managing the universities

December 15, 2024

Academic autonomy of the universities is under increasing pressures from government and the corporate sector

Managing the universities


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n the 21st Century, universities have a central role in the socioeconomic development of a country. They can be instrumental in upholding the values of democracy, social justice and freedoms of thought and speech. This is only possible if the universities are allowed to work in an enabling environment with sufficient academic autonomy and are headed by leaders immersed in a research and intellect tradition.

Unfortunately, the academic autonomy of Pakistani universities is diminishing as a result of interventions by government and corporate sector in the name of efficiency, productivity and accountability. In the age of neo-liberalism, the role of universities is being confined to service providers for the labour market. This could seriously undermine their crucial role of facilitating independent thought, innovation and research.

There have been a number of executive and political interventions recently for greater control over universities. An important tool of control is the appointment of vice chancellors. In the past vice chancellors were selected on the basis of their contribution to the society. As a result eminent scholars such as Professor Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Professor Hameed Ahmad Khan, Professor Karamat Hussain, Dr Jamil Jalibi, Allama II Qazi, Dr SalimurRehman Siddiqui, Professor Manzoor Ahmed and Sheikh Ayaz headed public universities.

Later, vice chancellors were selected through search committees set up by the government. The committees interviewed the applicants and shortlisted the candidates for consideration. There have always been questions about the composition of these search committees, the criteria of their membership and the influence the governments allegedly exercised over these committees to ensure ‘desirable outcomes.’

The shortlisted candidates were then interviewed by the relevant chief minister who then made recommendations to the governor who was also the chancellor. In the Punjab, this led a row between the chief minister and the governor. The disagreement between the two persisted and resulted in a long delay in the appointment of vice chancellors.

In Sindh, the provincial cabinet has recently approved some amendments to the rules for the appointment and tenure of vice chancellors. A major change is the abolition of the PhD requirement for the candidates. This means that now a person without a PhD degree could be appointed as a vice chancellor. This change has serious repercussions as it will open doors for career bureaucrats to take charge of universities, the highest seats of learning. The assumption underlying this decision apparently is that academics lack administrative skills and that people from the administration cadre are in a better position to run a university. This is a narrow and flawed concept of university leadership. Administrative skills do not suffice in leadership jobs, least of all in universities. Besides a knack for administration, the job requires academic and intellectual leadership immersed in research and democracy. Another important amendment is that the tenure of vice chancellors will be four years, extendable for another term. The possibility of extension is apparently meant to be an incentive for the vice chancellors to stay on the right side of the government.

In Sindh, the cabinet has recently approved amendments to the rules for the appointment and tenure of vice chancellors. A major change is the abolition of the PhD requirement for the candidates.

Some drastic amendments have also been made in rules in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A major change is that now the chief minister, instead of governor, is the chancellor of the public universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. This provision has some serious repercussions. First, the check by the governor with regard to the universities is lost. Second, being the head of the university senate, the chancellor has to preside over its meetings. A university senate holds a minimum of two meetings a year. The chief minister will therefore have to take time out from his/ her very busy schedule to attend the meetings of 34 universities in the province. Another amendment in the Act requires that the short list of candidates for the position of vice chancellor sent to the chancellor (chief minister) be drawn in alphabetical order; in the past it was in the order of merit. This is a clever move to give greater room to the chief minister to exercise his/ her discretion. The tenure of the vice chancellor will now be four years (instead of three years in the past). This looks superficially promising. However, there is a catch; after two years there will be a performance evaluation on the basis of which the VC’s tenure would either be extended or terminated. This is a Damocles’ sword hanging on the heads of vice chancellors.

Another important amendment is with regard to the appointment of the registrar. According to the amendment, in the absence of a suitable candidate in the university staff, the chief minister might appoint a bureaucrat as registrar of the university. By virtue of his/ her designation, the appointee will act as secretary of the senate, syndicate, selection board and other important bodies. It is important to note that there used to be a section in the previous Act that allowed the syndicate to take action against the registrar. After the recent amendment, no action can be taken against him/ her. Another significant change in the Act is that instead of all deans now only the senior most dean will be part of the syndicate. Similarly, the representation of teachers in the syndicate has been reduced and government representation increased.

These are some of the recent measures to control universities. No wonder there is restlessness in the academia. It is important to realise that in order to preserve the intellectual integrity, academic freedom, development of knowledge, promotion of research and critical thinking it is essential to give universities, the vice chancellors, faculty members and students an enabling environment.


The writer is an educationist. He can be reached at: shahidksiddiqui @gmail.com

Managing the universities