new arrivals
State’s apathy towards senior citizens
Senior citizens in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan continue to yearn that the policies and legislations for their care and welfare, although inadequate, will be…
بالا دستی کی بھارتی خواہش سے معاشی تعاون کا موقع ضا ئع، ماہرین
پاکستان میں ای۔کامرس کو فروغ دینے کی وسیع گنجائش موجود ہے
اصلاحات اور بہتر سہولتوں کی بدولت مقامی اور بین الاقوامی سطح پر موجود مواقع سے فائدہ اٹھایا جا سکتا، ماہرین اسلام آباد ( ) پاکستان…
Experts From Public & Private Sector Term Facilitation as a Key to Boost E-commerce in Pakistan
E-commerce offers huge scope and potential for Pakistani markets. However, the right policy reforms and facilitations by the government could play a key role in…
Experts from public &private sector term facilitation as a key to boost e-commerce in Pakistan
Islamabad: (July 01, 2020) E-commerce offers huge scope and potential for Pakistani markets. However, the right policy reforms and facilitations by the government could play…
India’s hegemonic designs a real obstacle in way of regional economic ties: experts
Staff Reporter
Indian hegemonic designs have sabotaged the opportunity to enhance regional economic cooperation and integration being felt in the wake of COVID-19 and has made the…
Indian hegemonic designs hurdle to regional economic ties: experts
Our Correspondent
Islamabad: Indian hegemonic designs have sabotaged the opportunity to enhance regional economic cooperation and integration being felt in the wake of COVID-19 and has made…
Experts Demand Tax Relief to Boost E-Commerce in Pakistan
Jehangir Nasir
E-commerce offers huge scope and potential for Pakistani markets. The right policy reforms and facilitation by the government could play a key role in tapping…
Reforms needed to boost e-commerce in Pakistan
Our Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has one of the lowest internet penetrations, which is hindering it from making gains in the e-commerce sector, said World Bank Senior Economist…
Managing food supply chain amid COVID-19: Insights from global efforts
Abstract Maintaining food supply is usually most challenging for governments during crises and disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, how different countries face…
E-Newsletter on COVID-19 Vol.1, No. 20, Issue 27-30 June 2020
Academia opposes appointment of ex-bureaucrats, judges as head of universities’ syndicates
Rasheed Khalid
ISLAMABAD: The draft Punjab Public-Sector Universities Amendment Act 2020 undermines the autonomy of the universities by allowing the appointment of retired bureaucrats and judges as…
Consequences to surrender against oil mafia
Balancing demand, supply and prices of all important commodities is the responsibility of relevant authorities. But the fuel prices are being changed with the approval…
Budget & Health; Corona-virus Budget
The federal budget has been announced and Rs 650 billion been allocated tothe Federal Public sector development program for this fiscal year. Minister of the…
South Asia: Regional Stability and Security amid COVID-19
30/06/2020-30/06/2020
Moderator: Ayesha Ilyas, SDPI. Opening Remarks: Dr. Abid Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI. Panelists: Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Kaleem Saadat, President, CASS Brig. (Retd) Dr. Saif Malik,…
کرونا: پاکستان کے لیے کاروبار کے سنہری موقع
Syndicate chairpersons: Hiring retired bureaucrats, judges may weaken varsities’ autonomy: speakers
Recorder Report
The draft 'Punjab Public Sector Universities Amendment Act 2020' undermines the autonomy of the universities by allowing the appointment of retired bureaucrats and judges as…
Budget and health in coronavirus-hit budget
The federal budget has allocated Rs 650 billion for the Federal Public sector development program for this fiscal year, of which Rs 20 billion goes…
ISLAMABAD: The draft Punjab Public-Sector Universities Amendment Act 2020 undermines the autonomy of the universities by allowing the appointment of retired bureaucrats and judges as chairpersons of the syndicates of the universities depriving the vice-chancellors and teachers of their right. This was stated by senior academicians including the vice-chancellors of various universities while addressing a webinar on “The Autonomy of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan” organised here by Sustainable Development Policy Institute. They said that the university teachers’ fraternity and the vice-chancellors of the universities in Punjab are resisting the draft amendment demanding that the autonomy of the universities and VCs should not be compromised in the interest of higher education in the province. The academicians were of the view that the proposed Act was drafted without taking the stakeholders on board. They said that instead of curtailing the powers of vice-chancellors of the universities in Punjab, they should be given autonomy to appoint their teams including deans, chairpersons of departments and centers, pro vice-chancellors etc. The university teachers’ fraternity feels that such an attempt will end intellectual freedom and harm independent academic research once the university syndicates will be headed by retired, non-academician bureaucrats or judges and others who do not know what is higher education and academic freedom. This may be a conspiracy to curtail intellectual freedoms, they concluded. Dr Fateh Mari, Executive Director, Higher Education Commission, was of the view that any kind of law-making requires a wider debate among the stakeholders before a formal draft is finalised. Besides, he said, the draft should come in the public domain for a consultative process. “We have witnessed amendments in various university acts but the basic framework always remained intact,” he said, adding that the freedom and autonomy are important for quality higher education. Earlier, Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI, presented an overview of the situation that has been emerged after surfacing of the proposed draft. He said any such effort if allowed to get materialised would have a disastrous impact on the autonomy of the universities. The civil society and think tanks would lend their complete support to academia to highlighting crucial issues. Dr Suleri said that the collective voices of the stakeholders would be duly shared at the relevant forums. Dr Syed Muhammad Ali, Vice-Chancellor, Quaid-i-Azam University said that any amendment in existing law should be aiming at bringing some improvement in the system. However, the proposed draft, if implemented, would render the universities completely ungovernable. Dr Shahid Siddiqui, Dean Social Sciences, National University of Modern Languages, termed it quite unfortunate that even the institutions of higher education are dragged into politics of power. He said that we cannot expect a VC to deliver when he/she is left to face undue and consistent pressure in the name of appraisal twice every year. Dr Rukhsana David, Principal, Kinnaird College University, Lahore, said that when we compare our universities with the institutions of higher education of other countries, we also need to learn about their systems that are based on a higher level of autonomy. Dr Iqrar A Rana, former Vice-Chancellor, Agriculture University, Faisalabad, said that the presence of a powerful vice-chancellor is imperative to expect him/her to deliver. He said that we may amend the act with a view to improving the governance of our higher educational institutions with accountability but not by compromising their autonomy. Dr Naseer Pasha, Vice Chancellor, University of Education, said that the vice-chancellors of the universities are major stakeholders that have not been consulted before the preparation of the said draft. Dr Uzma Qureshi, Vice-Chancellor, Women University, Multan, said that the insinuations of higher education need more autonomy rather than comprising whatever is available. Dr Athar Mehboob, Vice-Chancellor, Islamia University, Bahawalpur, was of the view that the proposed draft is just a reflection of the institutional decay we are witnessing at every level in our country.
Recorder Report
ISLAMABAD: The draft 'Punjab Public Sector Universities Amendment Act 2020' undermines the autonomy of the universities by allowing the appointment of retired bureaucrats and judges…
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🗓️30th June, 2020
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