The appointment of Vice Chancellors for Islamia College University (ICU) and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (SBBWU) would be made on purely merit basis as interviews had been conducted on 7, March, 2014 for the vacant positions, an official of University said on Thursday.
A search committee earlier was formed by the Chancellor and Governor KP held interviews on 7, March 2014 for the appointments of two vice chancellors each for Islamia College University and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Woman University Peshawar, an official of University said. As many as 15 applicants were short-listed out of 70 applicants for each of two universities, he further informed. The official further said the appointment of Vice Chancellors for the abovementioned universities would be made on merit basis and no political parties’ interference like past would be preferred this time. As three candidates have been short-listed for ICU which include Professor Dr. Asif Khan, Director, National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Professor Dr. Mansoor Kundi, former Vice Chancellor, Gomal University and Professor Dr. Qibla Ayaz, former Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Peshawar, he revealed.
However, records show that there is now a considerable improvement in the selection process while the short-listed candidates for the ICU and MBBWU were all senior professors including more than a dozen previous or serving Vice Chancellors, deans and directors, he added.
He claimed that there were no politically affiliated controversial candidates this time for appointment of VCs as the search committee utterly short-listed deserving applicants for appointments.
It may be mentioned here that appointment at vice chancellor positions remained a highly controversial process in the tenure of the previous government. According to records, Vice Chancellors at seven public sector universities were selected purely on political basis without any respect for merit and competency.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led provincial government is expected to prefer merit rather than favoritism this time for the appointment of VCs and the final selection for the positions of Vice Chancellors for the ICU and SBBWU is awaiting approval from the Chief Minister, he stated. While at the same time it is believed that Chief Minister is in strict instructions from the party leadership to follow merit in all appointment in the province.
Eminent educationists like Professor Dr. Qasim Jan and Dr. NasiruddinAzam together former and present secretaries like Ghulam Dastagir Khan, Sikandar Qayum, and Farah Hamid constituted the search committee.
It is worth noting that the search committees in the times of the previous governments comprised serving Vice Chancellors affiliated with known political affiliations.
He said the PTI government set a decent example in the case of recently concluded appointment at the Agriculture University Peshawar where Professor Zahoor Ahmad Swati was appointed purely on merit, based on his seniority, experience and academic accomplishments
Especially, the Islamia College University seriously deserves a fair selection of its leadership, an official said and adding the university was granted charter in 2008 with the appointment of Ajmal Khan as its first VC.
Unfortunately, Professor Ajmal Khan was kidnapped by Taliban in September 2010 and still remains in their custody. Instead of appointing an experienced, non-partisan person as the Acting Vice Chancellor, the institution has been governed on ad-hoc basis.
He informed that four acting vice chancellors have been appointed for ICU after kidnapping of Professor Ajmal Khan and the result is that the university remains deprived of any developments in its academic performance as well as in education management since it was granted a charter.
Source: The Frontier Post.
