Vice Chancellors Finalised For Okara, Sahiwal And Ghazi Universities

HED asks PHEC to propose interview panel for another seven soon-to-fall-vacant VCs’ seats

The Punjab government has finally decided to appoint vice chancellors (VC) at three of the seven vacant posts in public universities where a permanent head of the institution was due for appointment. Following a tedious selection process that continued in fits and starts, the powers that be have finalised the names of VCs for University of Okara, University of Sahiwal and Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan.

According to well-placed sources, the interim government had earlier decided not to make the final appointments and leave the task for the incoming government. However, the interim government has now decided not to wait any longer and notify the appointments at three of the varsities. The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) had earlier sent three shortlisted candidates’ names for each of the three universities to interim Chief Minister Dr Hasan Askari for final selection, after interviews were conducted by respective search committees.

According to the sources, the vice chancellors finalised are:  for University of Okara – Prof Dr Zakria Zakar, the fomer acting VC of Punjab University –  Prof Dr Nasir Afzal for University of Sahiwal and Prof Dr Muhammad Tufail for Ghazi University.

As for the remaining four universities where VCs are still to be appointed, only the process for Information Technology University (ITU) Lahore has been completed. However, no name has been finalised. The interview process for selecting a VC is yet to begin for University of Jhang, Women University Multan and University of Home Economics Lahore.

Impending Vacancies

Meanwhile, HED has asked the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) to submit a panel of interviewers for selecting VCs for another nine universities in Punjab. Of these nine, some varsities have been recently established and functioning without a VCm while and others are the ones where the term of the incumbent vice chancellor is set to expire.

These nine universities include the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore, Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila, Government College University (GCU) Faisalabad, University of Gujrat (UoG), Government College for Women University (GCWU) Faisalabad, Government College for Women University (GCWU) Sialkot, University of Narowal and University of Murree.

The tenure of VCs serving UET Lahore, IUB, GCU Faisalabad and UoG will expire in December 2018, while the term on VCs of GCWU Faisalabad and GCWU Sialkot will expire on September 9 and September 11, 2018, respectively. The VC’s position at UET Taxila VC fell vacant after the former incumbent was appointed the VC of Punjab University. On the other hand, University of Narowal and the University of Murree were established by the end of the tenure of the previously elected government and are still without a vice chancellor.

The search committee for each university will be constituted for a period of two years from the proposed panels, which will be tasked with interviewing the candidates who apply for the top slots at these universities. Apart from the panels for search committees, the HED has also tasked the PHEC with submitting a panel of experts for both engineering universities, UET Lahore and UET Taxila.