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Punjab University probe against ICS director
PU probe against ICS director
Lahore, July 14, 2008: The Punjab University (PU) administration has decided
probing a complaint of alleged favouritism extended by the Institute of
Communication Studies (ICS) director to two M.Phil candidates.
It is
learnt that the PU vice-chancellor office had received an "anonymous" letter
that two M.Phil students, who are also serving as faculty members at the
institute, were declared successful in a paper in a specially organised re-sit
examination. It was stated that the regular teacher had declared both students
failed in 'Research Methodology' paper. However, the director appointed a third
examiner, who examined both candidates and declared them successful in 'flying
colours'. The VC office has received both the results signed by the examiners
concerned, it is learnt.
When contacted, PU vice-chancellor Prof Dr
Mujahid Kamran said Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology director Prof Dr
Amin Athar was being appointed to hold a preliminary inquiry into the matter.
"In case the initial inquiry report suggests some wrongdoing, a formal inquiry
committee will be formed," he added.
It is learnt that the PU
administration has withheld Higher Education Commission faculty development
scholarship offered to both the students to proceed for United States for higher
education. The final decision regarding allowing them to proceed for their
studies abroad will be taken in the light of the outcome of inquiry.
It
has so far been reported that M.Phil students Naveed Chaudhry and Shafique
Kamboh were declared failed in 'Research Methodology' paper taught by Dr Bushra
Hamidur Rehman.
In a later development, ICS director Prof Dr Mugheesuddin
Sheikh appointed former mass communication department chairman Dr Miskeen Ali
Hijazi, who is currently serving as a visiting faculty member at the institute,
as a third examiner. Dr Hijazi conducted the re-sit examination for both
candidates and declared them pass with 'A' grade.
It was also alleged
that the ICS director had earlier asked Dr Rehman to revise her assessment but
she refused to do so and finally the case was referred to the department's
semester committee.
Sources in the university administration said that the ICS director was not authorised to organise the re-sit examination
because re-sit examination could be organised only for those candidates, who
could not appear for the examination due to a valid reason. While the
candidates, who fail in a paper, were required to appear in the next semester
examination along with other candidates.
When contacted, Prof Sheikh said
that he would welcome any impartial inquiry into the incident. Saying that some
elements in the varsity administration were trying to disturb his "cordial
relations" with the vice-chancellor, he added that he had held a detailed
meeting with the vice-chancellor on this subject and came out
satisfied.
Prof Sheikh said it was a matter of interpretation of the
university semester rules and regulations whether the re-sit examination could
be organised or not. He said that only a few university teachers had grip on
university semester rules, which kept on changing. The ICS director said he was
fully competent to organise a re-sit examination and appoint a third examiner,
when the affected students had challenged their teacher's assessment before the
semester committee headed by Bushra Rehman.
He said such decisions, where
re-sit examinations were organised, had already been taken. "I did not change
the original result and instead organised a re-sit examination, which is my
privilege," he added.
Prof Sheikh said Dr Rehman had herself sought
advice from him and he told her that her evaluation was unfair and she should
revise her assessment. "Afterwards, Dr Rehman never made any verbal or written
complaint on the subject," he added. Dawn
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Reevaluation at Lahore College for Women University (LCWU)
Lahore: I would like to draw the attention of Education Minister, Higher Education
Commission and the Governor Punjab, Mr Salman Taseer towards the alarming
situation developing at Lahore College for Women University (LCWU).
According
to newspaper reports, the students of the Bachelors of Fine Arts programme of
this university have been asked to re-exhibit their thesis work for
re-evaluation by a third examiner. The thesis work was already exhibited at
Alhamra and was duly evaluated. The federal secretary Mr Athar Tahir opened the
exhibition.
The majority of students have rejected this decree which they
think is a way to oblige two students who were not satisfied with the response
of the examiners. One of these students is the daughter of a faculty member who
is the head of gender studies department.
The other student's work suffers
from plagiarism. For or the sake of these two favored students the whole
examination process is to be repeated. The reasons quoted by the VC for this
decision are unsatisfactory and lame to say the least. If the examiners didn't
follow the procedures for submitting the results in time, which by the way is
not the case, that is a failure of the university administration. Why are the
students being subjected to re-evaluation for university's failure?
Ibraheem Ali, via e-mail (The Nation)
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Inquiry against former GCU employee stopped
Lahore: A civil court has restrained the Government College
University (GCU) administration from conducting an inquiry against Tariq Malik,
a former deputy director of the Computer Science Department, till the next date
of hearing.
The administration had launched an inquiry against Malik in
February 2008 for alleged irregularities in the purchase of computers. However,
Malik submitted a petition in the civil court, stating that the administration
had launched the inquiry three months after his resignation and it was
illegal.
Hearing the argument, the court stopped the inquiry till the
next date of hearing. The court also ordered the respondent not to harass the
petitioner. Daily Times
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| Education News | | Updated: 14 Oct, 2014 |
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