PESHAWAR - Chairman Higher Education Commission, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, has said that there are around 70 public sector universities in the country requiring the appointments of VCs, and that necessary procedures for appointment of vice-chancellors have already been carried out for most of them.
Talking to The Nation, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that the Election Commission had suspended the appointments of the vice-chancellors in the caretaker set-up but the HEC got the permission for it.
“I got permission from the Election Commission of Pakistan for appointments of the VCs and the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan and KP have even carried out the necessary procedures,” he added.
However, he said that HEC is a facilitating organisation and the committees and provincial governments in the provinces have to handle the appointments themselves.
It merits a mention here that delay in the appointment of vice-chancellors for public sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been a topic of discussions in academic circles for a long time.
The president of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), Prof Dr Akhtiar Ali Ghumro, told journalists recently that the delay in the appointments has been impacting the operations of the higher education institutions.
“It has led to a stagnation of vital administrative and academic matters within the universities, which is not only detrimental to the universities’ functioning but it also undermines the overall educational landscape in the region,” he added.
Speaking to this correspondent, FAPUASA general secretary for Khyber Pakhtukhwa Dr Zaffar Hayat said that a search committee, which was supposed to finalise selection of VCs had already finalised their procedures and that those decisions should have been implemented, instead of delaying the process further.
“If this search committee tenure ends, it means another committee would have to be formed. Thus this will lead to further delay in the appointments of the vice-chancellors,” he added.
However, Dr Mukhtar said that with the new government, new committees might be formed in various provinces to appoint the VCs.
Dr Mukhtar added that merit would have to be followed in the appointments at the seats of learning.