With the Punjab University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran set to complete his tenure in January 2012, the Punjab government is likely to extend his tenure since no competent candidates are eligible for the slot, Pakistan Today learnt on Sunday.
Government sources said the PU VC had performed well in his first tenure in which a record 460 PhDs were produced and PU had ranked number 4 in the country with the number of research journals published having doubled during his tenure. Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) sources said alternate candidates for the VC slot were either former Islami-Jamiat-Taliba nazims or had a prior record of plagiarism and the Punjab chief minister was likely to avoid taking a risk.
Pride of Performance: Punjab HED sources disclosed the government could give Dr Mujahid Kamran an extension due to his performance. HED sources said the department would advertise the post with only three months left of Kamran’s tenure. They said procedure required them to advertise the position before appointing a VC but was likely to extend the current VC’s tenure.
They said the current PU VC was popular in both the HEC and foreigner universities as both academic and teacher. They said this will not be the first extension since VC tenures at University of Engineering & Technology (UET), Government College University (GCU), University of Sargodha (UOS) and University of Education (UOE).
Religious groups’ pressure: They said there was pressure from a religious political group to appoint a favourable VC and two names had been presented, including recently appointed UOS VC Dr Chaudhry Akram and Textile University Faisalabad VC Dr Niaz but neither was competent to handle the country’s biggest universities. They said the political groups candidates at PU were marred by cases of plagiarism and academic corruption and could give rise to hooliganism and bloodshed at PU given their ex-union leader histories. “The Punjab CM will not take any risk,” they said.
Focus on academic research: Sharing HED data, a HED official said around 460 students will complete their Phd’s in the PU VC’s four year tenure. As it stands 339 candidates have completed their Phd’s at PU and the figure is likely to increase to 460 in the coming three months. He said the PU VC had improved PU and brought in rank with universities in neighbouring countries in its capacity to produce PhDs.
He said the spirit of research was developed in PU after the research publications in impact factor journals increased from 162 in 2007 to 352 in 2010, which improved PU’s rank from 6 in Pakistan to 4. Quaid Azam University Islamabad ranks at 1, Agha Khan University Karachi ranks at 2 and Karachi University (KU) ranks at 3 and PU was expected to surpass KU next year.
A senior HEC official said the HEC was impressed with growth in research at PU and was mindful that current PU VC took charge in 2008 of a varsity in the grip of extremism and the VC had successfully countered the propaganda of a group of teachers and produced a positive result. He said the HEC was aware of the plight of plagiarist Deans and Directors at PU who were stimulating corrupt elements against the VC but hoped the CM will show intelligence and be mindful of the corrupt politics of a religious group at PU.
A PU professor said, “There is no doubt a group of teachers at PU was the reason the number of PhDs decreased. A number of theses are still pending due to these teachers, as a tactic against the current PU VC. He said the PU VC had advocated a research spirit and stimulated students to go abroad to acquire Phds. He said the PU faculty was happy about the Supreme Court decision that grants power to a competent authority to appoint VCs at varsities and hoped the Punjab CM will decide on merit. He said the religious political group simply wanted to implement their writ at PU and want a VC from their group but could offer no competent candidate for the PU VC slot.
He said the Punjab CM’s soft corner the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) had been cause for fear but they trusted the CM to decide on merit when appointing the PU VC. He said the Punjab governments support was important for PU and the PU VC had set up a research group at PU to fight dengue to the surprise of medical university and health department officials.
PU is Pakistan’s biggest university with 73 departments and around 30,000 students.
Punjab govt likely to extend PU vice chancellor’s tenure
