HED appoints provisional PU, LCWU vice chancellors

–PUASA asks CJP to take notice of new eligibility criteria for VC

LAHORE: The search committee constituted to appoint provisional vice chancellors (VCs) for the Punjab University (PU) and Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) on Friday notified Dr Nasira Jabeen and Dr Farkhanda Manzoor as the new vice chancellors of the PU as well as LCWU, respectively, till the appointment of a regular VC.

Dr Nasira Jabeen, prior to her appointment served as the Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences dean as well as the director of the Institute of Administrative Sciences at PU. On the other hand, Prof Dr Farkhanda Manzoor from Zoology department served as the director of LCWU’s Institute of Education.

The Higher Education Department (HED) issued the notifications, copies of which are available with Pakistan Today, following the interviews of all the candidates by the search committee at the Government College University (GCU) Lahore.

Earlier in the day, five senior-most professors from the PU and 3 senior-most professors of the LCWU had appeared before the search committee.

While Prof Dr Taqi Zahid Butt, Prof Dr Shahid Kamal, Prof Dr Fakharul Haq Noori, Prof Dr Nasira Jabeen and Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar appeared before the committee from the PU, senior most professors including Prof Dr Bushra Khan, Prof Dr Shagufta Naz and Prof Dr Farkhanda Manzoor of the LCWU had also participated in the interviews.

The search committee included Punjab Accreditation Committee Chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Chairman Dr Umar Saif and Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) Chairperson Dr Fauzia Waqar. The secretary HED was the secretary of the committee while leading industrialist and former caretaker minister Abdul Razak Dawood was the convener of the committee.

It is pertinent to mention here that it is for the first time that provisional VCs have been selected by a search committee as the governor/chancellor had the authority in the past to make such appointments.

Last week, the VCs of both the universities had been removed on the directives of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) while he heard suo motu cases against them.

PUASA asks CJP to take notice of new eligibility criteria for VC:

Meanwhile, the Punjab University Academic Staff Association (ASA) protested against the new criteria for the appointment of vice chancellors. A meeting of the executive body of the PUASA was held at the University Club here on Friday. The meeting was presided by PUASA President Dr Mahboob Hussain while Dr Asghar Iqbal, Dr Kamran Mirza, Choudhary Naeemullah, Munawar Iqbal and others were also present.

The participants said the new eligibility criteria had ignored some very basic and vital parameters of measurement of professional excellence of an academic leader. They added that no marks were given for post-doctorate experience, and neither was any credit given for PhD and MPhil research supervision nor any weightage for academic research projects was there in the new criteria. ASA President Dr Mahboob Hussain said that public sector universities were being ruined under a “well-thought conspiracy”. The meeting called upon the CJP to take notice of the criteria and play his role so that a balanced search committee could be constituted.