LAHORE - Academic staff associations have strongly condemned exclusion of the PhD condition from the revised criteria for selection of vice chancellors of public sector universities.

As the Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) has notified the revised criteria, university teachers’ representatives say the move is aimed at paving the way for appointment of bureaucrats as vice chancellors.

According to the notification, a VC is an administrator hence the search committee will look for highly qualified candidates, including scholars, academics or management experts who may be bureaucrats.

A bureaucrat said on condition of anonymity that academics had failed to deal with university affairs; therefore, the government had decided to scrap the PhD condition from the criteria for VCs. He said the condition of being a PhD was no longer required in many leading universities of the world. Moreover, he said, many of the officers had obtained PhD degrees from foreign recognised institutions so it would be wrong to presume that the current move was aimed at benefitting the bureaucracy.

The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), Punjab University Teachers Front (PUTF) and PU Academic Staff Association (ASA) have condemned the new policy. FAPUASA Punjab President Dr Javed Ahmed, PUTF President Prof Dr Sajid Rashid, General Secretary Dr Mahboob Hussain, Central Vice President Dr Shoaib, PU ASA Treasurer Dr Azhar Naeem and Executive Members Dr Ayub Afridi and Naeemullah said that composition of the Search Committee and the entire process reflected that private sector was being promoted and public sector was being ignored. They said that representatives of the academic fraternity had been ignored in the process.

“How can a person supervise or encourage research activities without having any experience in research,” they asked? They also questioned whether Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif would like to appoint an academic as Punjab chief secretary or any other administrative officer? They rejected planned entry of bureaucrats into academics’ domain.

PU faculty member Rana Ejaz said in his letter to the chief minister that appointment of VCs was a matter of concern. “We faced problems at universities in the past due to highhandedness of VCs with dubious characters from civil and military bureaucracies or academic backgrounds. At the Punjab University, the last vice chancellor administered the institution for nine years with insincerity and dishonesty and ruined merit and transparency.” He wrote to the chief minister that the last VC had politicised the university to the extent that the incumbent VC was facing a stiff resistance as he was trying to depoliticise the university. He said the Punjab government had also tried to pave the way for appointing of bureaucrats to top posts in the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education.

In 2008, the teachers of government institutions had strongly reacted to Punjab government’s move to invite applications from DMG/PMS officers for appointment to top slots of examination boards of the province. They had flayed the move, saying it was an attempt to induct bureaucrats into boards as chairmen, secretaries and controllers of examination. “Bureaucrats are eyeing these posts as if they have eliminated corruption from other departments they are heading,” one of the teachers said.

A public sector varsity VC said on condition of anonymity the teaching community was shocked by abolition of the PhD condition for the aspirants for vice chancellors’ slots. “How can someone with no experience of research run affairs of researchers in the field of education?” he questioned. He said the government could appoint pro-VCs, registrars, treasurers, controllers of examination and other important people as vice chancellors instead of creating new controversies. He said that new HED Secretary Nabeel Awan should address such issues and focus on filling administrative.

The HED secretary was not available for comments. However, a senior official said elimination of the PhD condition was not meant to induct bureaucrats into universities. He said the move was meant to invite competent administrators from various circles who have capacity to mobilise financial resources.