LAHORE - A proposal to double the tenure of university vice chancellors in Punjab is on the cards, it is learnt.
Final decision on the plan is likely in a couple of weeks, sources in the Education Department said, adding that some senior educationists have floated the proposal on the plea that the sitting VCs may not be able to complete the ongoing projects in their four-year term. The government is seriously contemplating on the issue and a notification in this regard will be issued soon, they added.
The Vice-Chancellors Search Committee has already short-listed names of three sitting VCs – GCU VC Prof Dr Khaleequr Rehman, Fatima Jinnah Women University VC Dr Samina Amin, Sialkot Government College Women University VC Dr Farhat Saleemi.
Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) VC Dr Sabiha Mansoor has not so far been shortlisted, the sources said.
The committee will, however, interview candidates for the appointment of VCs of four new universities – Ghazi University of Dera Ghazi Khan, Government Sadiq College Women University of Bahawalpur, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Engineering and Technology of Multan, and Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering and Technology of Rahim Yar Khan. These universities are not having any vice-chancellor at the moment.  
Though the Vice-Chancellors Search Committee has also short-listed some candidates for the slot of VC in six public sector universities as the term of exiting VCs is about to expire, the new selections would not be considered if the government decides to do with the existing ones.
The two VCs whose term would expire on July 13, 2015, include Dr Sabiha Mansoor, VC of Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) and Dr Samina Amin Qadir, VC of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi. The tenure of three VCs, including Dr Khaleequr Rahman of Government College University (GCU), Dr Faizul Hassan of University of Education Lahore and Dr Syed Khawaja Alqama of Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU), Multan will expire on July 22, 2015 whereas tenure of Dr Mohammad Akram Chaudhry of University of Sargodha (UoS) will expire on October 9, 2015.