PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali has expressed concern about the functioning of the province’s 24 public sector universities without the regular vice-chancellors and the long delay in filling those top vacancies.

“The absence of regular vice chancellors in many public sector universities within the province contributes to the decline in higher education quality, necessitating immediate attention,” the governor told the chief minister in a letter.

In the letter, the governor, who is also the chancellor of government universities in the province, said stakeholders had identified shortcomings in various provisions of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Sector Universities Act, 2012.

“These shortcomings should be taken up with authorities for necessary changes to the law,” he said.

Mr Ali said the governor’s secretariat had compiled a report on the state of public sector universities in the province, highlighting flaws in higher education policies and proposing solutions.

He also asks govt to address financial, administrative issues of universities

He said the report called for the resolution of the financial and administrative crises at the universities.

The governor said the universities should“rationalise budgets, mitigate budget deficits, and channelise energies for quality education and research aligned with market demands.”

Currently, the province’s 24 government universities are functioning without regular VCs. The VC position has been vacant at eight universities for the last one year, according to officials.

They told Dawn that those eight universities included Abbottabad University of Science and Technology, Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, Khushhal Khan Khattak University Karak, University of Agriculture Dera Ismail Khan, University of Lakki Marwat, Hazara University Mansehra, University of Engineering and Technology Mardan, and Women University Swabi.

Seven other universities have been awaiting the filling of the top position for three months. They include Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Shuhada-i-APS University of Technology Nowshera, Kohat University of Science and Technology, University of Peshawar, University of Science and Technology Bannu, and University of Engineering Peshawar.

Officials said five universities, including Fata University Dara Adamkhel, Islamia College University Peshawar, the University of Buner and the University of Chitral had been functioning without regular VCs for the last one month.

The newly-established University of Agriculture Swat, University of Engineering and Applied Sciences Swat, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Swat, and University of Shangla also don’t have regular VCs.

Sources in the higher education department claimed that the process for appointing regular VCs to public sector universities in the province was completed three months ago, but the provincial government was reluctant to notify the names of VCs “without any justification.”

These vacancies were advertised during the last Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government, with Mahmood Khan being the chief minister, according to them.

The sources said the academic search committee for the appointment of vice-chancellors conducted interviews for VC posts from January 22 to January 26.

They, however, said the provincial government insisted the process of appointing VCs had been completed during the time of the caretaker government, which had no authority to appoint VCs.

The sources said the current elected government intended to re-advertise all those positions.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Higher Education Commission has written a letter to the secretary of the higher education department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa about the issue.

“The development of higher educational institutions hinges, among other things, on the quality and continuity of their leadership. Discontinuity and ad hoc arrangements, on the other hand, cause inconsistencies in work, gaps in policy implementation, and financial indiscipline, resulting in inefficiency, poor governance, and weak institutional performance. Unfortunately, the situation in KP is serious as there are many public sector universities with the offices of VCs either vacant or being overseen by individuals on an acting basis,” he said.

The HEC chairman pushed the higher education secretary to ensure the early filling of the top vacancies in universities.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024