ISLAMABAD, July 31: The administration of International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) is contemplating discontinuing the services of its Arab faculty, Dawn has learnt through sources.
As many as two dozen deans and professors from the Arab world have been associated with the university since its establishment in 1980s.
“The Arab faculty was brought on board during the Ziaul Haq regime. They have been valuable assets and their services have been unparalleled especially when the local faculty does not come close to matching their teaching techniques,” said an IIUI official on condition of anonymity.
The 22 to 24 Arab professors, who are highly respected worldwide, made up the faculties of Islamic Studies, Sharia and Law and Arabic.
Most of the Arab, Sudanese, Egyptian and Turkish faculty were associated with world’s renowned educational institutions, including Al Azhar University and Cairo University in Egypt. Some are serving as deans of the faculty at the IIUI.
“The move sounds unreasonable because these faculty members draw salaries from their parent universities. The services they render are invaluable because of their high quality teaching and research experiences,” said the official.
He argued in favour of keeping the Arab staff members especially when many Pakistani PhDs did not meet the criteria set by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to become professors, assistant professors and lecturers.
Recently, the IIUI had terminated services of nine members of the teaching staff who had been associated with the university for the past five to six years as consultants.
However, Director General Administration and Finance, IIUI, Gulzar Khawaja denied any such idea.
“The Arab faculty members are hired at the government level. The university does not even have their contract details. There is no such move on the table,” the DG said.
On the other hand, the source said the services of the foreign faculty members were hired and contracts signed at the university level.Dawn.
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