HEC to verify universities faculty degrees
HEC asks VCs to get faculty degrees verified
Lahore, June 26: With degrees of parliamentarians already under the scan, the
Higher Education Commission has decided to 'verify' the degrees of faculty
members serving in universities across the country. HEC executive
director Prof Dr Suhail H Naqvi has written a letter to all universities'
vice-chancellors, asking them to direct their faculty members as well as
administrative staff in BPS-17 and above to submit their original terminal
qualification degrees for attestation by the midst of next month. Sources
in the HEC said that the commission had received several complaints about
the authenticity of degrees held by faculty members serving in various
universities across Pakistan. Prof Naqvi has told the vice-chancellors
that the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education, and Science and
Technology had tasked the HEC with verifying the degrees of the members of
parliament and provincial assemblies. He stated that the issue of fake degrees
held by faculty members of different universities had also come up. In
this background, he stated that the HEC felt that universities should serve as a
role model and volunteer to have the terminal degrees of all the faculty
members, including top administration, verified from the commission. Prof
Naqvi finally urged the VCs to direct all the faculty members and administrative
staff in BPS-17 and above, including top administration as well as the
contractual employees on equivalent positions to get their degrees attested from
the HEC. He stated that the commission would not charge fee for the attestation.
"The faculty and administrative staff members' terminal degree should be
submitted to the HEC by July 15, 2010," he asked. Meanwhile, the
Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) has
decided to defy the Higher Education Commission on the plea that "it was
imposing inappropriate conditions on university teachers". FAPUASA
president Prof Dr Mahr Saeed Akhtar, who is also Punjab University Academic
Staff Association president, has stated "we will not submit degrees for
attestation to the HEC until it accepts the genuine demands of 17,000 university
teachers across Pakistan". He stated that the HEC was not cooperating
with the FAPUASA and instead imposing inappropriate conditions on teachers.
Prof Akhtar said FAPUASA had submitted several suggestions to the HEC
officials for the betterment and enhancement of the quality of higher education
in Pakistan. He stated that most of those suggestions were agreed upon and the
commission had told the federation representatives that these would be discussed
in the commission meeting on April 19 last and notified accordingly. However, he
said, the HEC did not honour its promise despite several reminders. The
FAPUASA president said the teachers' demands included delaying the
implementation of new eligibility criteria, acceptance of research articles
(which have been already evaluated from technologically advanced countries)
written prior to 2005 for promotion and GRE for local PhD admissions.
"Until the acceptance of teachers' genuine demands, the FAPUASA will
observe non-cooperative attitude towards the HEC," he observed. Dawn
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FAPUASA to boycott HEC's move
Islamabad: All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations
President Prof. Mahr Saeed Akhtar has announced to boycott the move of Higher
Education Commission to verify degrees of teachers in all public-sector
universities of the country. Talking on phone, Prof. Mahr
said that FAPUASA took the decision Friday to protest against HEC, which is not
cooperating with the teachers body. He said that FAPUASA would only cooperate
with HEC degree verification exercise if the commission fulfils its promise of
solving the teachers' problems first. He said that Dr Javaid Leghari,
Chairperson, and Dr Suhail Naqvi, Executive Director, HEC, in a meeting at the
end of two-day general body meeting, had promised that HEC will positively
consider the demands of FAPUASA in the meetings of relevant bodies
soon. He said that the issues included new criteria of appointment in
which all the articles published in journals recognised by HEC before June 2005
had been done thrown into dustbin. When these journals enjoy the status
of being HEC-recognised, how can its volumes published before the birth of HEC
could be called illegitimate, he wondered. He said that condition of
accepting post-PhD experience for promotions is also harsh as it just
de-legitimises whatever years spent by faculty in teaching and research for
completing PhD. He also referred to the issue of up-gradation of the
stuck-up faculty in majority of universities in the civil sector but the same is
denied to some others varsities. He said HEC bosses had agreed to have
uniformity in this respect but nothing had been done so far. The news
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Kidnappers treated me well, says VC on return
Peshawar: Recently released vice-chancellor of the Kohat University of
Science and Technology (Kust), Prof Lutfullah Kakakhel, said on Friday that he
was treated "very-well" during his seven-month long captivity. "The
captors had been very kind to me as they took care of my food requirements and
medicines along with other necessities," Mr Kakakhel said while talking to this
agency at his residence. "My captors used to take me to a far-off area
in the mountainous region once a month so that I could contact my family as the
area I was kept in had signal problem," he recalled. Hale and hearty,
the vice-chancellor did not appear to have been kept in captivity for such a
long period of time. With rosary in his hands, he was quite normal and
was attending large number of guests and family members who came to congratulate
him on his safe release. "With the grace of Allah, I did not face any problem
during captivity," he said When asked about their feelings on the safe
return of the vice-chancellor, his family members thanked Allah Almighty, saying
it was due to His blessings. Mr Kakakhel was kidnapped from Dara
Adamkhel on November 6, last year, when he was on his way back to his residence
in Peshawar. The vice-chancellor has worked in the University of
Peshawar (UoP) in various capacities at Center of Excellence at Physical
Chemistry department. He also established computer science department in
the university with an objective to raise computer literacy. He also
served as an adviser on Science and Technology to former governor Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa Iftikhar Hussain Shah, during which he set up Malakand, Hazara,
Kohat, Qurtaba and Cecos universities. App
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Students protest against shifting of college building
Karachi: The students of Allama Iqbal Government Boys College on Friday
staged a demonstration on the main Sharea Faisal against the transfer of the
college building. The protesters blocked the main thoroughfare of the
city and suspended vehicular traffic for at least half an hour. They also burnt
tyres on the road to create difficulties for commuters. The order of
transfer of the college's building was given by the court. According to the
court's decision June 30 was set as the deadline to vacate the building.
The owners of the building had referred the case to the court stating
that they were not interested in giving the place to the college's
administration and wanted its possession back in their control. The
college (Boys Section) was operating in two shifts (morning and evening) and
courses of Arts, Commerce and Science are offered at the college. Over 1200
students are enrolled at the college. According to the department of education,
this college would be shifted to a new building in Model Colony. The college was
nationalised during 1972 like other private educational institutes. "The
government is bound to obey the court's decision and new building is available
in the neighbourhood area for these students," an officer at the Director
General (DG) Colleges said. The concerned authority, DG Colleges, Professor Dr
Nasir Ansar was not available to comment over the matter as his mobile phone was
constantly switched off. Sources in the education department said that
one of the ethnic groups had huge influence on the college's affairs. The news
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