Plan to reduce vice-chancellors’ tenure finds resistance

An amendment in university rules through an ordinance is on the cards for decreasing the tenure of vice-chancellors of public sector universities from four years to two years while several prominent personalities from the country’s higher education circles have vowed to move court against the “planned move”, writes Hassaan Ahmed for Pakistan Today.

Punjab University Academic Staff Association General Secretary Associate Professor Mehboob Hussain said the proposed ordinance depicted that “education is not the government’s priority”. “A reduction in vice-chancellors’ tenure will force them to indulge in facilitating politicians and bureaucrats for further extensions as two years are not enough to perform adequately, ” he said.

Dr Hamid Mukhtaar, former Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association, or FAPUASA, general secretary and Government College University Lahore Academic Staff Association, or ASA, general secretary, said the ordinance is a “deliberate attempt by the powerful bureaucracy” to benefit the already flourishing private universities as no vice-chancellor can effectively implement policies in just two years. He said they will challenge the ordinance in court from the platform of ASA Punjab.
Full report on the Pakistan Today site