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Committee recommends 10 marks to all victim candidates
LAHORE: The inquiry committee to look into alleged malpractices in PhD admissions at the Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) has found irregularities in the evaluation process of the entry test, considering the allegations leveled by a candidate true.
The committee has also recommended giving 10 marks to all the candidates in order to give the benefit of wrong evaluation to the students in their interest. Punjab University’s Public Relations Officer Khurram Shahzad, also candidate for PhD at ICS, had challenged the evaluation process headed by senior faculty members in the Lahore High Court maintaining he had been victimised in the entry test.
The candidate had submitted before the Lahore High Court that he had attempted a few questions with correct answers but his answers were marked wrong. The court had directed the Dean of the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences to inquire into the allegations and pass an order. On the dean’s recommendation, an independent committee, headed by Lahore College for Women’s University Chairperson Dr Anjum Zia, was constituted.
Appearing before the committee, Khurram Shahzad raised objections on nine questions and presented references from books and theories. The committee, after scrutiny of relevant record, submitted a report before the Dean and admitted serious irregularities in the evaluation of entry test by senior PhD teachers and recommended to give 10 marks to the candidates.
On Monday, ICS’s Departmental Doctoral Programme Committee held its meeting and unanimously decided to give 10 marks to the candidates. The meeting also recommended to reschedule the interview of successful candidates and merit list may be displayed accordingly. After the committee’s decision, as many as 13 candidates were also likely to be appeared on merit list, which were deprived of their right to get admission earlier.
