Daily Times

A key post of executive director (ED) in the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is lying vacant for the past nine months, and despite announcing the vacancy twice in the recent past, the post could not be filled.

The academic circles are presuming that the commission may have the intention to favour some specific person against the slot. The educationists apprehended that the HEC management desired to accommodate some specific person to hold the executive director’s office, due to which the commission follows such practices.

However, HEC Chairman Dr Tariq Banuri rejected the speculations saying that the authorities did not find the “appropriate candidate” after first advertisement, after which the HEC was compelled to re-advertise the post while seeing no other option except this.

The chairman told Daily Times that the commission believed in “competency-based appointment” which is a contemporary approach in developed country, adding that the degrees were also equally important but “we are looking for competency and not just required academic qualification” for the post.

As per the HEC Ordinance 2002, the competent authority for appointment of HEC Executive Director is HEC, the commission, not any individual, and all terms and conditions for this post should be determined by the 18-member governing body.

As per rules of the HEC, the qualification of ED which is an MP-1 scale post should be an advanced degree, preferably PhD, in any discipline with experience of work with the government, community and elected officials.

The ED, according to the ordinance, is principal accounting officer and he/she is second most important after the chairman. He/she acts as secretary of HEC governing board, head of HEC Secretariat and custodian of more than Rs 90 billion annual budget.

In a recent advertisement published in national press and on HEC website, the commission asked required qualification for the appointment of ED as only 16 years of education with some years of administrative experience.

In first advertisement which appeared in January, the HEC asked the candidate for the post should have PhD degrees.

When asked the reason for lowering the qualification from PhD to Masters, the Chairman Dr Banuri claimed that “the PhD degree was preference, not mandatory”.

According to the information available, the post of HEC ED is vacant since October last year after the previous ED Dr Arshad Ali resigned from the post amid plagiarism charges. After Dr Ali’s resignation, the HEC’s China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects consultant Lt Gen (R) Asghar was given additional charge of the post.

Earlier, the post of ED was advertised in January; however, no candidate was selected for the post by the committee of five members (constituted and empowered by 18-member commission of the HEC).

An official in the HEC wishing anonymity said that unlike the previous condition, advertisements and appointments, the HEC has relaxed the condition of being PhD for aspirant ED which would further deteriorate the HEC affairs, and likely lowering the criteria will increase the chance of hiring any blue eyed official on such important position.

Meanwhile, a two-day extensive dialogue cum capacity building workshop on Developing Law Curriculum in Pakistan was organized at National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) Islamabad. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with the Warwick Law School, University of Warwick, United Kingdom.

Following decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in August 2018, HEC has initiated revamping and re-writing of the Law Curriculum. This workshop is an initiative in this direction. An important aspect of this initiative is to simultaneously provide opportunities for those tasked with delivery of the curriculum to be exposed to teaching and learning approaches in jurisdiction beyond Pakistan.

According to the HEC press release, Dr. Shaheen Sardar Ali, Professor of Law at Warwick Law School was resource person for the workshop. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.

Sixteen faculty members from five universities of twin cities having Law Departments, including Federal Urdu University, Quaid-e-Azam University, Bahria University, International Islamic University, Fatima Jinnah Women University and a special representative from Pakistan Bar Council, Islamabad attended the workshop.