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HED moves summary for appointment of VCs at KP universities

By Yousaf Ali
January 11, 2020

PESHAWAR: The Higher Education Department (HED) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has formally moved a summary for appointment of vice-chancellors of eight public sector universities in the province on the basis of the names proposed by the academic and search committee following the panel interviews held in Islamabad on December 23 and 24, 2019.

The process would now take a couple of weeks to complete until the final notification is issued.

“We also want completion of the process at the earliest so that the universities’ smooth functioning may continue,” said a senior official of the HED while talking to The News.

A total of 24 names have been recommended for the eight positions, with a panel of three final candidates suggested for each university. But as per the strict directives were given by the academic and search committee, only the candidate on the top of the panel should be appointed unless and until a solid reason could be given for picking anyone else from the list.

According to the panels recommended for each university, the names of Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Dr Mohammad Idrees and Dr Shafiqur Rahman have been finalised for Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan.

For Hazara University, Prof Dr Jamil Ahmad has been recommended on the top of the list of three, while Dr SM Saqlain Naqvi and Dr Abdul Hameed have been suggested on number 2 and 3 for the same university.

Similarly, for Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Prof Dr Tahir Khan has been suggested on the top, followed by Dr Shahid Mahmood Baig and Dr Mukhtar Alam.

For Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak, Prof Dr Johar Ali has been recommended as the leading candidate and he is followed by Dr Nisarullah and Dr Tahir Shah.

Moreover, for Women University Swabi, Dr ShahanaUroojKazmi has been recommended on top, Dr Noor Jehan as second and Dr Khanzadi Fatima as third nominees.

For the University of Agriculture, Dera Ismail Khan, the name of Dr Mansoor Elahi Babar has been finalised as the most favourite, followed by Dr Mukhtar Alam and Dr Ijaz Ahmad.

For the University of Lakki Marwat, Prof Dr Mohammad Saleem Haider has been recommended as the leading candidate while the two others are Dr Aurangzeb Khan and Dr Khan Bahadar Marwat, respectively.

Furthermore, for the University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, Prof Dr Shahid Khattak has been recommended as the leading candidate, followed by Dr Sahar Noor and Dr Bashir Alam.

Some senior academicians in the province have already expressed reservations over the process and now the final recommendations.

They believed that some of the candidates called for the interviews had problems with their eligibility, while other senior and eligible candidates were ignored.

Among the candidates whose names have been finalised, several were having a poor record at the universities where they had already served as vice-chancellors.

Some of them have even crossed the age of superannuation and they have already served as vice-chancellors for more than 10 years and their names have been finalised for appointment even now.

However, their names were on the bottom of the list of three candidates.

Similarly, a number of candidates recommended for the offices as the most favourable nominees hailed from other provinces and thus the ‘talented lot’ of the KP was ignored in the process.

However, a senior official of the HED said that no one had been ignored in the process. He said that whoever fulfilled merit had been called for the interview and the whole process was completed in a transparent manner.

Another official of the provincial government was of the opinion that there was actually a dearth of appropriate candidates for the prized positions. The academic and search committee should make a real search of candidates for the positions without looking into their research papers, impact factors and other such requirements.

In most of the cases, a candidate would be having many papers, impact factor and projects but their very much appearance would not be suitable for the positions.