Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The hasty and unplanned way of dealing with the things at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) once again caused delay in the long-awaited meeting of the Vice-Chancellors’ Committee. The HEC announced that it would hold the meeting in Lahore on May 17-19, but later postponed the meeting due to incomplete arrangements.

An email sent to the VCs across the country by Arabia Ferrous, an assistant director of administration and coordination at the HEC, says, “We are pleased to inform that the Meeting of the Vice-Chancellors’ Committee is being convened on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 17-18, 2016 at Atari hotel in Lahore.”

It was said in this email that all VCs should ensure their presence in the meeting and in case of their unavailability they should nominate the acting VCS to represent their universities at the meeting.

The email stated that the HEC would arrange pick and drop for participants from airport to hotels whereas the VCs would be accommodated in Atari, Pearl Continental, Crown Plaza and Falsetto’s hotels in Lahore.

According to another email available with Daily Times, the Senior Management Committee of the HEC has decided to hold this programme.

The email contains the tentative programme, which indicates that the first two days have been reserved for VCs of the public sector universities. On the third day, the VCs of the public and private universities would come together.

The email says, “It is expected that Punjab Chief Minister Shabbat Shari will inaugurate the opening session, while Punjab Governor Refigure Rowena will unveil the videoconferencing facility at the selected colleges of Punjab on May 18, 2016.”

Both emails were circulated on May 12, just four days before a national level event. This shows a careless attitude of the commission towards such an important forum. As a result, the HEC has been forced to cancel the meeting due to a lack of preparedness and incomplete arrangements. The cancellation of the meeting raises several questions about the performance of the commission.

First, why the HEC announced the meeting of the VCs’ Committee in haste and an unprofessional manner? Second, how can the HEC itself prepare the agenda of the meeting, as it is the mandate of the VCs to set the agenda for the meeting? Third, why was the email circulated if the event was not confirmed?

Commenting on the issue, HEC spokesperson Ayahs Ihram said, “The commission has cancelled the meeting of the VCs’ Committee, as we could not arrange venue for the meeting.”

The VCs’ Committee was set up in the 2nd meeting of the commission on January 8, 2003. All vice-chancellors or equivalent rectors of the universities and degree awarding institutions of the public and the private sector are members of the committee.

In recent days, Daily Times reported He’s failure to call the meeting of the VCs’ Committee after May 2015. It was a routine for the heads of the public and private institutions of higher education to meet twice a year.

Pakistan has more than 177 public and private recognised higher education institutions and their heads have only on forum, the VCs’ Committee, to raise their issues. Currently, Prof Dr Rasul Jan, the vice chancellor of the University of Peshawar, heads the forum. Prof Jan replaced Engineer Empties Gillian, the vice chancellor of the Engineering University, Peshawar.