LAHORE: Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar will assume the charge as the vice chancellor of the Punjab University (PU) today (Monday). He will be 48th head of the university and its regular VC after a lapse of more than two years.

The Punjab Higher Education Department (HED) on Saturday issued the notification, stating that Prof Akhtar had been appointed as regular VC of the PU.

According to the notification, Dr Akhtar has been appointed as the VC vice for a four-year term after the approval of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The appointment was made after the court asked the Punjab government officials to submit the summary when they informed it that a candidate had been selected for the post and a notification would be issued after the approval of the governor.

Dr Akhtar is a recipient of Sitara-i-Imtiaz and has served as the VC of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila. Previously, he has served as the rector of the National Textile University, Faisalabad and was also the director of the Institute of Quality & Technology Management at the Punjab University. Dr Akhtar holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds, UK.

The appointment of the VC at the largest university of Punjab has been a thorn in the side of the provincial government as it had been unable to finalise a permanent VC since 2015 when Dr Mujahid Kamran’s tenure ended. Since then, four provisional and acting VCs, including Dr Kamran, had held the office.

Appointment made after SC approval

It’s pertinent to mention that nine universities in the province are working without any regular VC. They include the Lahore College for Women University, Women University, Multan, University of Okara, University of Jhang, Information Technology University, Lahore, Tainjin University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Taxila, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan and University of Home Economics, Lahore.

Some of the faculty members of the universities that didn’t have regular VCs told Dawn they had to face a number of problems for not having regular heads of their institutes.

They said they needed approval of the VC for many functions and faced problems in organising conferences or starting new subjects. They said the institutions could not even avail budget for new programmes or develop infrastructure because the acting VCs always denied starting any new projects.

The academics said that the varsity faculty members were also facing problems in getting leaves and some of them also awaiting approval for the renewal of their contracts and such teachers were not getting salaries.

They demanded the government to appoint the VCs of their institutions for smooth running of their affairs.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2018