Lahore - Educationists have raised eyebrows on the permanent Search Committee set up to recommend suitable candidates for the appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) in the public sector universities with members from rival private sector universities calling the shots.
Punjab government constitutes a permanent search committee for a period of two years. Its head from private sector remained constant for years as the practice shows.
The present search committee is headed by known industrialist and pro-chancellor of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Syed Babar Ali who acts as its convener. Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi also from LUMS is another member from the private sector. Present Finance Minister, MPA Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha who has been visiting professor at LUMS and Chairperson PHEC Dr. Mohammad Nizamuddin are official members while Secretary Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab acts as secretary of the Search Committee.
It is also said that the provincial Finance Minister Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha has been part of the same university so the members from LUMS including Syed Babar Ali and Dr Zafar Iqbal Quraishi played an important role.
Interestingly, both of them, as educationists say, have never been posted as professors or VCs in the public sector universities. Thus, the committee members lack teaching as well as administrative experience of the public sector universities.
This time the search committee have interviewed for the VCs of University of Sargodha, Lahore College for Women University, Punjab University and Nawaz Sharif Technology University Multan as tenures of all the VCs have already been expired while that of the PU VC expired on Friday. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would approve the name of one candidate, out of panel of the three, for each university.
A former VC and a candidate for the VC-ship requesting secrecy said the weak composition of the search committee and political pressure in addition adds to the weak process. “Not a single known academician is part of the committee,” he said. Sartaj Aziz and Gen (r) Akram Ch remained members of the search committee.
The committee interviews the candidates with decades of experience only for couple of minutes questioning how would they run the university. Recalling an event when he was interviewed last time, he said, “A former HED secretary Irum Bokhari asked me how I approached the international body for my selection as member of the nomination committee for Nobel Prize”.
After recommendations of the search committee, the CM interviews the candidates, also no confidence on committee. The chancellor of the university or his representative is seen no where during this whole process, another flaw in the system.
“When I was selected as the VC, no body or institution like HEC etc or even the secretary gave me any target to make the university better,” former VC said. Moreover, the committee doesn’t consider properly the VCs performance during their first term.
He said the posting of VCs in public sector universities was part of a big game to destroy the top educational institutions that luckily maintained their status among common people. He said the lower educational institutions like schools and colleges had already been destroyed by poor government policies.
“Central Model School Lahore and top government institutions stand nowhere when we talk standards,” he was of the view. He maintained that the corporate sector people now wanted to damage the existing public sector universities so that they could flourish their businesses. Their good say in the VCs’ search process was the initial step towards that, he added.
A professor of the PU who is not a candidate for the VC-ship conditioning anonymity also confirmed that in presence of two private members and one official member who has been in the visiting faculty of the LUMS, the recommendations of HED secretary and Chairman Higher Education Commission also becomes irrelevant.
He said that political pressure was most dangerous factor in the search process. The candidates for the top coveted university slots, especially for the second term, develop relations with the members of the search committee or influence them politically, he blamed. Some of the incumbent VCs have also applied afresh for these posts. Some candidates also oblige the concerned one way or the other for second term, he claimed. He pointed point a good number of MPAs in the university syndicates that he alleged influenced the search process. “They got their kin adjusted in the university, besides getting other benefits,” he alleged.
He said that committee recommended last time a panel of three candidates including Dr. Rukhsana Kausar, Dr Uzaira Rafique and Dr Sara Shahid for Lahore College for Women University VC-ship and the later was finally picked up by the chief minister. But, later on, on the presentation of Dr. Rukhsana Kausar to CM Shahbaz Sharif, Dr. Sara Shahid was rejected as she lacked one of the relevant qualifications.
The same committee initiated the process for selection of a new LCWU yet again, and this time around, it also shortlisted a candidate Dr Uzma Quraishi which it had previously ignored during the first process of scrutiny, and later also recommended her name for the VC slot.
Another candidate in the race claimed that Dr. Quraishi’s post-graduate experience required for the post of professorship is still short of 15 years, her professorship selection is questionable. She seems to have approached committee members and managed to get her name included in the panel of three. How she has become eligible for the VC-ship. She has less than five years of LCWU teaching experience while the other candidates have over 30 years of teaching experience, he questioned. When this paper requested a copy of the Dr Uzma Quraishi’s CV, the LCWU did not furnish it.
When there is a tough competition between private and public sector in education sector, why the head of a private sector university nominated as head of the search committee makes recommendations for appointment of vice chancellors (VCs) in public sector varsities, said Prof Dr Akram Ch, a former VC of University of Sargodha.
Educationists maintain that government should keep the names of members of the search committee secret so that candidates cannot approach them. They think that majority of the search committee members should be from public sector and not from the private sector. They also highlighted helplessness of the HED and increasing political pressure that forwarded a summary regarding giving the temporary charge of the PU VC but the CM office amended it altogether.
There are also questions on the criterion set by the Punjab government for selection of the vice-chancellors. Interestingly, the experience required for the professorship is 15 years and for the VC-ship it is only 12 years. All the candidates this paper interviewed demanded of the government to change the committee composition if it really wants to improve standard of education.
Talking about the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Act 2012, the professor said, it empowers the search committee to identify on its own the prospective candidates. If no one impresses the committee, it can use the powers by searching proper vice-chancellors. The candidates should have experience in the field of higher education of at least 20 years, 10 years of administrative experience. Moreover, execution of at least one major research project and experience of working with international bodies or conferences held outside the country is part of the criteria for VC-ship.