ISLAMABAD - The teaching faculty of Quaid-I-Azam University (QAU) has expressed concern over favouritism during appointments on different posts, demanding equitable processing of applications for faculty appointments. It has been learnt that the Vice Chancellor, who has been given extension in the contract till the appointment of new vice chancellor, is all set to appoint his favourites against five posts when nearly 50 posts are also lying vacant at the university. In this regard, a meeting of Academic Staff Association of the university was also held the other day wherein besides this issue various other problems of the university were discussed by the representatives of the teaching faculty. Several members of the association noted that applications for the appointment of faculty are processed inequitably. While, in certain cases, applications are processed on fast tracks, in other cases various types of delaying tactics are used. It was also noted with concern that the process of obtaining consent of potential foreign referees is very slow. Moreover, the process of obtaining consent, sending the application dossiers and the follow up are also not transparent. The members agreed that there is a need to make the procedure more efficient and more transparent. The deliberate delay by the university administration in processing of the application is affecting seniority of faculty members. It was proposed that in order to preserve seniority in appointments, all applicants under one advertisement should be appointed from the same date irrespective of the date of Selection Board. In order to deliberate on these issues and propose improvements in the system, the faculty members constituted a committee consisting of Dr. Eatzaz Ahmad, Dr. Muhammad Ayub and Dr. Muhammad Ishaq. After the detailed discussion on BPS Incentives, the faculty members noted with concern that the applications for BPS Incentives were invited in the light of the criteria approved by the Syndicate of the university by circulation and vetted by HEC. Unfortunately, in a meeting of Syndicate not a single representative of the university was present when a committee was formed to reframe these rules. The professors resolved that the BPS Incentives package is a part of Tenure Track System document. Under this system, anyone who qualified for TTS was eligible and given TTS benefits. The same principle must be observed while offering BPS Better Incentives. They demanded that BPS Incentives for the years 2007 to 2009 to all the faculty members on BPS who qualify the criteria circulated among the faculty by the university administration must be given with no further delay. If the criteria for BPS Incentives are to change, these can only be implemented in future cases after approval by Syndicate. In case any such changes are to be made, the committee constituted for the purpose must include at least one faculty member on BPS. The ASA proposed the names of Prof. Afzal Bhatti, Department of Computer Sciences and Prof. Muhammad Aslam, Department of Statistics to be included in the committee. In order to resolve the issue of the GRE and other pending matters, the professors urged the university administration to call an Academic Council meeting as soon as possible and resolve the matter as many Ph.D scholars have fulfilled the rest of the requirements that are compulsory for the award of Ph.D. degree. The EC also proposed that at least two meetings of Academic Council should be held each year. The teaching faculty also expressed its dissatisfaction over the intervention of the VC in the process of appointment of Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences. It was noted that even at the time of advertisement of the same position the Vice Chancellor had created hurdles and tried to persuade the chairman of the department to delay the advertisement. It was only after a delegation of senior faculty members of the university including the faculty of the Department of Earth Sciences met the VC and convinced him to advertise the post as chairman of the concern department has requested. It was proposed by the teaching faculty that the Vice Chancellor should be requested to arrange the construction of a boundary wall around the campus on urgent basis. Other measures of security may also be deliberated with the security experts and a comprehensive plan of security be chalked out for safety of students, faculty and administrative staff of the university.