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6,000 Urdu University students face crisis
ISLAMABAD, Jan 15, 2008: The future of 6,000 students of the Federal Urdu University is in
jeopardy as no permanent vice chancellor has been appointed even after 18 months
and without a VC the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) will not recognize its
engineering degrees.
"We are in the final semester of BSc electrical
engineering and when we are passing out in the next six months, we have been
told by the university administration that the PEC has not given accreditation
to the university," said Hamza Salman, a student of the university.
"The
university administration had been telling us the PEC has accredited the
university and the degree which we will get was recognized," he said. The
university has an acting vice chancellor since May 2006.
He said the
university students have been protesting against this lapse since December 3,
2007 but on December 14 the students were told by the administration that the
university would remain closed for a month and on Jan 14 it would get a
permanent vice chancellor.
But the situation remains the same today and
no permanent vice chancellor has been appointed, the students said. Student
Mehmood Ali said that HEC officials have told them that a list of three
proposed vice chancellors has been sent to the presidency on December 26 last
year for approval.
He said the list has been sent to the presidency
because President Pervez Musharraf is the chancellor of the university. "The
university was established by a presidential order and now the future of around
6,000 students is at stake because of non-cooperation of the faculty," said the
student
"The PEC has not accredited the university perhaps not
recognizing the degree issued by a university which has been established by the
president himself." He said the university administration had announced three
times in the recent past the PEC has accredited the university but it was all
lies.
The acting vice chancellor, Dr Syed Kamal Uddin, has been saying
in the past to close the electrical engineering department, which depicts the
non-seriousness of the university administration as there were 1,800 students in
the department, said the students.
Zeeshan Shafique said the students
have been told by the HEC officials that the three proposed vice chancellors
include Dr Qaiser, Mehmooda Askeri and Dr Ejaz. He said the head, department of
electrical engineering, Dr Asar Khan had told the students that he was resigning
on December 31, but he had not resigned and now was adopting aggressive
behaviour towards the students.
He said the students will stage a rally
from the university campus to the presidency for the achievement of their rights
and have submitted an application with the administration of the city in this
regard.
Dr Asar Khan, when contacted, said: "The News has no right to
ask me anything and I am not the servant of any newspaper to tell them
anything." The teacher said he had been appointed through the federal public
service commission and the selection board that selected me should be
approached.
When asked about the accreditation of the university with
the PEC, Asar replied that he had no concern with anything. "Who are you to ask
me? Why are you asking such questions from me? Who has given you this right to
ask anything from me?" shouted the angry teacher at this correspondent. The News
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