LAHORE, July 26: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has questioned the Punjab University`s (PU`s) decision of selecting three candidates for the slot of professors against the commission`s criteria with regard to research publications.
The PU selected Institute of Education and Research`s (IER) associate professors Dr Muhammad Saeed Shahid, Dr Rafaqat Ali Akbar and Dr Abid Husain Chaudhry as professors despite the fact that the first two candidates have no research articles published in HEC recognised journals, while the last candidate has got published three research articles. PU Registrar Prof Dr Muhammad Akhtar, however, says the three professors in question have 15 research papers published in HEC recognised journals.
The selection board, which approved the selection of these three candidates, was held on April 21 this year, the same day when the varsity faculty was polling their votes for their representatives on the university Syndicate.
For the three professors` seats in the IER, the PU additional registrar stated on August 23, 2010, that the applicants from the IER stand ineligible in the light of the HEC chairman`s letter, which stated: “the appointment as the associate and full professor requires an excellent publication record, specifically publications in the HEC approved journals”.
Eight candidates had applied for the three posts, while none of them met the HEC criteria of 12 research publications (with at least three publications in the last five years).
H EC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi said that he was following the issue up with the Punjab University. It is learnt that the commission has written to the PU authorities to explain why they did not follow the HEC criteria. The PU registrar denied that the HEC had questioned the appointment of these three professors.
Earlier, the PU additional registrar office had agreed to some faculty members` opinion that the research papers published in journals other than the HEC recognised journals were acceptable. But during the processing of the application of Dr Mumtaz Anwar for the post of associate professor in the economics department, the additional registrar discarded his earlier opinion and stated that all candidates, who did not fulfill the criteria of required number of research papers published in HEC recognised journals – stood ineligible. The additional registrar found that former HEC chairman Prof Dr Attaur Rehman had written a letter to the Punjab governor in December 2007 that “condition of HEC recognised journal is strictly applicable”.
A selection board meeting held on March 29, attended by members Mukhtar Masood and a Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) member, had also suggested that the VC should not hold the selection board and that professors should not be selected on the basis of articles published in self-published journals. Another member Pervez Masood was absent. The selection board then postponed the selection of candidates, however, it evaluated the research papers of the applicants. The minutes of the March 29 selection board meeting have so far not been issued, it is learnt.
Later, the VC called the selection board meeting on April 21 and selected the three professors. The two members – Mukhtar Masood and a PPSC member – reportedly did not attend the meeting. Sources say that it is morally not correct to hold a selection board in the absence of two members, who had earlier given their dissent notes. On April 24, IER dean Prof Dr Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal also wrote a note of dissent regarding the proceedings of selection board for incorporation in the minutes of the April 21 selection board. He stated that none of the applicant had got published 12 research papers in HEC recognised journals.
He said that these applicants were held eligible when a selection board member in a meeting on Nov 19, 2009, had opined that the HEC had waived the condition of publication of articles in the HEC recognised journals. The dean stated that the information was based on misperception as the HEC had declared it imperative that only publications in the HEC approved journals be considered for appointment as the associate and full professor level.
Prof Iqbal also questioned that the panel of referees for evaluating research papers of the applicants had not been approved by the selection board and subsequently by the Syndicate. He said that all the three referees, to whom the papers of the applicants were sent for evaluation, had close acquaintance with the IER Director, who was partisan to this case.
The dean also stated that two of the referees Dr Muhammad Ahsan and Dr Muhammad P Aslam did not possess qualification in the relevant subject. He said the selection board held on March 29, 2009, had declined to take decision in this regard. He also observed that the papers of the applicants submitted with their applications had been published in self-published journals, which were not published regularly, rather had been published only for this purpose.Dawn.
No comments:
Post a Comment