HE vacancies: Judge slams government over falling standards

The chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court censured the government over the declining standard of the country’s higher education system during a case brought by an association of academics which is challenging the non-appointment of permanent vice-chancellors to as many as 66 public sector universities.

The judge directed all provincial governments to take immediate steps to appoint permanent vice-chancellors and submit a compliance report to the court within a month.

The non-appointment of vice-chancellors to over 60 public sector universities has been a longstanding issue in the country, leaving many universities to function without vice-chancellors or to make interim appointments.

Speaking eloquently on 15 May about the crumbling higher education system and deteriorating administration at universities, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa said: “The universities of the country are being systemically destroyed.”

The chief justice, heading a three-judge bench, blasted the government for its inaction and remarked that the entire higher education system was collapsing, with dire consequences for the country’s future. “Neglect and indifference [are] plaguing the universities of the country causing systemic erosion of the higher education system which will be very detrimental to the country,” he said.

He further denounced the prioritisation of political rhetoric over substantive discussions on educational reform.

The chief justice pointed to other state enterprises struggling to survive and called for proactive measures including accountability and transparency in the governance of universities to “stem the tide of decay” in higher education, calling it the basis for the country’s intellectual, social, and economic progenesis.

A cause of malpractice in universities

Representing 50,000 university professors from across the country, the All Public Universities BPS Teachers Association (APUBTA) petitioned the court on 26 March on the matter of the temporary appointments of university heads.

The petition contended that the non-appointment of legally tenured vice-chancellors had “a deleterious effect on the overall administrative structure of public sector universities. The federal and provincial governments have a de facto policy of not making timely and proper appointments to the highest posts in the university system; instead, they prefer to ‘control’ the universities through acting vice-chancellors”.

The petition maintained that this “gross violation of the law” was one of the “major causes” of malpractice and maladministration in universities.

Lawyers for the respondents, which include the Higher Education Commission (HEC), said the appointment of vice-chancellors had been delayed due to the interim government system, and “stay orders” by provincial high courts restraining the interim government from making important appointments. Such orders are passed by the courts in Pakistan during an interim political set-up to ward off political favouritism and maintain neutrality ahead of elections.

The interim government replaces an elected government in Pakistan three months before an election to ensure fair, free, and transparent elections. The last interim government was installed on 13 August 2023. However, elections could not take place in Pakistan within the stipulated time frame due to the delayed release of census data.

The delayed elections were held on 8 February this year, and the interim set-up disbanded after the government was formed on 8 March.

Over 42% of universities have no permanent leader

In court documents, the HEC said as many as 66 out of 154 public universities — over 42% – are either without a head or were operating with interim vice-chancellors or rectors.

Out of 29 higher education institutions in the federal capital of Islamabad, five are without full-time, regular vice-chancellors, 29 universities in Punjab Province have acting vice-chancellors, while 16 universities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (half of the total in the government sector) are without a regular vice-chancellor. Of those 16, 10 have interim heads while six are without even a temporary head. Five institutions in Balochistan and Sindh province have only acting vice-chancellors or rectors.

“The Higher Education Commission has been reminding and requesting the relevant stakeholders, including the provincial governors and chief ministers, of their statutory responsibility of timely appointment of vice-chancellors (or rectors) in the public sector [higher education institutions] falling within their respective jurisdictions,” the HEC told the court.

The court sought from the provinces more details of university budgets, the number of academic and non-academic staff, as well as the number of vacant examination controller and finance director posts at universities. Analysts believe that the high proportion of non-academic staff compared with academic staff could emerge as a new problem.

Adjourning the case, the chief justice said: “Just fix the education sector, and the whole country will be fine.”

‘Ad hoc’ governance at all levels

Professor Hafiz Aziz ur Rehman, director of the School of Law at Islamabad’s Quaid-i-Azam University, told University World News the problems at universities went beyond the non-filling of vice-chancellor posts.

“It is not just the matter of appointments of vice-chancellors. Many departments and faculties at universities across all provinces are being headed by interim deans or heads of departments. When the issue is being settled through the court, universities also need to pay attention to yet another brewing issue: the appointments of heads of departments,” he said.

He added: “This ad hoc governance system will destroy universities.”

Imran Ali Noorani, a teacher of political science at Jamshoro’s University of Sindh, told University World News: “University teachers are hopeful that a Supreme Court verdict will be in favour of the higher education sector, [and that] regular university leadership will be appointed, and the practice of temporary appointments will end, paving way for uninterrupted governance of universities.”

The bench of the Supreme Court will sit again after a month to review the progress made after the court’s order to the provinces to submit a compliance report.