Interview process of shortlisted candidates vying for posts of VCs, rector of three varsities completed

ISLAMABAD: The education ministry has finally completed the process of conducting interviews of shortlisted candidates to fill the top posts of three public-sector universities in the capital.

A search committee headed by Education Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain conducted interviews on Wednesday of 40 candidates — the last batch of shortlisted candidates — as 18 candidates were interviewed on Tuesday.

A source said there were 108 candidates in total, who were shortlisted for interviews. Earlier this month, candidates under the first batch were interviewed.

“Yes, today the interview process has been concluded and soon we will move three names against each post to the federal government for final appointments,” said an officer of the education ministry.

The interviews were conducted to appoint vice chancellors (VC) of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) as well as rector of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI).

The AIOU, currently, is being run on an ad-hoc basis by a temporary VC while the IIUI has its president to run its affairs. However, the country’s top ranked university, Quaid-i-Azam University, does not even have a temporary VC since Sept 21.

Dr Mohammad Ali was the last vice chancellor, who completed his four-year tenure on Nov 21 and since then, the office of the VC has been lying vacant and the university has been facing several administrative issues.

According to QAU officials, around 400 students have been running from pillar to post to get their degrees, which could not be issued without the signature of a VC. Similarly, the meeting of advance studies and research board to review progress of research work of PhD and MPhil scholars could not take place.

Similarly, the university’s financial issues also remain unresolved.

“We are cognisant of the issue of QAU. We have been pleading the federal government to appoint a temporary VC as soon as possible. We are hopeful that soon we will send three names against each post to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for final approval,” said an officer of the education ministry.

It is relevant to note here that IIUI rector Dr Masoom Yasinzai completed his tenure in September this year followed by QAU vice chancellor Dr Mohammad Ali and AIOU vice chancellor Dr Ziaul Qayyum, who completed their tenures last month.

“The process of appointing new heads of universities should have been started in August so that the appointment process could have been completed in November, but the issue continues to linger on,” said a QAU faculty member.

Sources said a top educationist, who successfully served in an important education department of Islamabad a few years ago before getting a new assignment in the education sector is also among potential candidates.