Why Vice Chancellors should belong to Academia

I totally agree with you but the problem is that we need to create some semblence of acdamic environments. I feel all politically affiliated student organizations must be banned.Perhaps those who have seen the activities in boy hostels will agree that its a nursery of evils. Sorry to say our professors are chikened out and scared of these such organizations. Its only the Militarry VCs that exams are being held every year in time,please recall early 90s when exams were late by 3-4 years, late with back log no one was sure when one would complete the studies. So first provide level grounds to the teachers and sanity must prevail in hostels and universties must look like universties then VCs should be from hard core professores. It was a compulsion and even now is that they had to bring in Army Gemerals as VCs. One may not agree but the quality of higher education is poor due to these politically motivated gangsters

lets now take example of NED University ..
another gift of Parsi Community to the people of Karachi - which was took over by the government in 1977 and runned proffesionally by the government - Engr. Abul Kalam happens to be the VC of this university and he has done a wonderful job in running the administration and academic affair of the respected university - this shows if the head of any department is dedicated - he or she has a impact on the whole organization . Today no law and order problem in this university - although university of Karachi is next door to this university ( here i would like to add that the atmosphere of university of karachi inside the campus is great - thanks to the presence of rangers inside university ) -
Engr. Abul Kalam is a man who takes no pressure on him - he would do what is right - he does not give into dadagiri of jaamaatis and mqm walas and do what is best for his university . this man helds open debates about university affairs , hears them - select university proffesor not on `parchi` but in a open selection process - and every year helds a entrance examination which is fair - so bottomline is merit wins the game -
and theres this another side to all this - quality of students , as a policeman and during my time studying in university i observed that the quality of students ( apart from quality of proffesors and lecturars ) makes universities trouble free - NED has students who score more atleast A grade and are good students ( most good students are good citizens ) while in KU we look at students from ARTS LOBBEY which are worse offenders and Comupter Science and Pharmacy best in dicipline..
more to follow..

Re: # 14 gives a good example of KU a Sarkari (government run) universities gone haywire. The socialist idea of providing ``free`` education with ``zero`` accountability is the cancer that is destroying these universities from inside out.

Universities were supposed to be the center of learning, awareness, and tolerance. What we got is a sewer filled with hateful groups carrying their Mohajirism, Sindhism, Balochism, Punjabism, and Pashtoonism.

Add in this dangerous brew, our ``smart`` and ``caring`` politicians and we got AK47 carrying thugs nay ``terrors`` whose sole aim is to devour the taxpayer’s precious money and live the ``high life of a goonda``.

Yeah baby we are in a sarkari university. Who the hell are you to ask about the grades or academic achievements? In fact these terrors are bhatta-collectors and bhatta-khors for both the underworld and the overworld. University dorms (hostels) are the warehouse where criminals and their weapons are stored. And then this author has a gal to blame Jernails for destroying the ``essence of universities.

I say it is time to privatize every sarkari school. We will automatically get rid of all these terrorists in the midst. Then there will be no need to bring in a Jernail VC.

Let me ask you this! Do you hear problems of Jernails in AKU or LUMS? Heck no! Students know that they have to pay so they study (and learn). So there is no terrorist union thugs and hence no jernail VC or ``secorty offeeser``.

And yes for the deserving and hard working genuine students, taxpayers can pay in the form of scholarships and low interest rate long term loans. The loans will only come due once the student completes education at home or abroad.

Karachi University is the biggest university in Pakistan ( both in number of students & departments - ) - lets take KU as a example ,
Dr.Abdul Wahab was made VC of KU in hard times - it was when the KU hostels was hijacked by thugs of the city , student unions & students were acting like gods , APMSO , Jamat & at that time PSF were having a fully armed conflict inside Karachi University , Examinations were delayed for two years - Dr. Wahab ( remember him from IBA - a Bakay Bihari ) took control and first thing he did was to call Pakistan Rangers into Karachi University which stopped the unions dada-gi-ree & made KU safe once again - here I had to mention KU have its very own Watch & Ward Section headed by a Proffesor called `Campus Sec.` & then there is another proffesor whos a advisor to the vc on security affairs -
as far as military is concerned although ethically role of army or any forces men should not be there in any university but in the real world ( and not of chowk ) our people could only understand one language & that is of `danda` - now who uses the danda is a serious question ? i think a person from the army should be made head of watch and ward section of every university of Pakistan - and a registerar of the university should be made on merit becaue these are the two people who in reality controls the university affairs .
In 2001 a ex-ISI man Commander. Naqvi ( one of the most proffesional ex- ISI officer ) was made the registerar of University of Karachi by then VC of KU Dr.Safi of Pharmacy Dept. - in one day Commander Sahab changed the shape of University(s) Administration Department - for doing a good job - Teachers Lobbey and MQM men got the Respected Registerar Sacked .
Selection of the Vice Chancellor of Karachi University is done directly by the Chancellor of the University which happens to be Governor of Sindh - unfortunately , political influence happens to be the manta here too and a political party(s) ( specially that of MQM`s ) recommended man mostly gets the seat of Vice Chancellor of Karachi University atleast .
Selection of the current Vice Chancellor Dr.Pirzada Qasim was made not by the Govornor of Sind but unfortunately by Altaf Bhai sitting in London.
Truth is bizzare at time - anyhow bottomline is either a Vice Chancellor be a army man or a proffesor or a ceo - he has to go through a open selection process - and then only we get good vice chancellors .
*i have nothing against mqm personally - belongs to a house which votes for mqm*

Karachi University is the biggest university in Pakistan ( both in number of students & departments - ) - lets take KU as a example ,
Dr.Abdul Wahab was made VC of KU in hard times - it was when the KU hostels was hijacked by thugs of the city , student unions & students were acting like gods , APMSO , Jamat & at that time PSF were having a fully armed conflict inside Karachi University , Examinations were delayed for two years - Dr. Wahab ( remember him from IBA - a Bakay Bihari ) took control and first thing he did was to call Pakistan Rangers into Karachi University which stopped the unions dada-gi-ree & made KU safe once again - here I had to mention KU have its very own Watch & Ward Section headed by a Proffesor called `Campus Sec.` & then there is another proffesor whos a advisor to the vc on security affairs -
as far as military is concerned although ethically role of army or any forces men should not be there in any university but in the real world ( and not of chowk ) our people could only understand one language & that is of `danda` - now who uses the danda is a serious question ? i think a person from the army should be made head of watch and ward section of every university of Pakistan - and a registerar of the university should be made on merit becaue these are the two people who in reality controls the university affairs .
In 2001 a ex-ISI man Commander. Naqvi ( one of the most proffesional ex- ISI officer ) was made the registerar of University of Karachi by then VC of KU Dr.Safi of Pharmacy Dept. - in one day Commander Sahab changed the shape of University(s) Administration Department - for doing a good job - Teachers Lobbey and MQM men got the Respected Registerar Sacked .
Selection of the Vice Chancellor of Karachi University is done directly by the Chancellor of the University which happens to be Governor of Sindh - unfortunately , political influence happens to be the manta here too and a political party(s) ( specially that of MQM`s ) recommended man mostly gets the seat of Vice Chancellor of Karachi University atleast .
Selection of the current Vice Chancellor Dr.Pirzada Qasim was made not by the Govornor of Sind but unfortunately by Altaf Bhai sitting in London.
Truth is bizzare at time - anyhow bottomline is either a Vice Chancellor be a army man or a proffesor or a ceo - he has to go through a open selection process - and then only we get good vice chancellors .
*i have nothing against mqm personally - belongs to a house which votes for mqm*

I totally agree with you. A military general has no business to head an academic institution. These are the actions, which are dragging us behind and taking us farther away from advancement. This is shear nepotism. Universities in the West are headed by individuals who have long work experience in academic institutions and are well versed with their operation. I would disagree that that an academician be posted as the head of a University It should be a person with practical experience in management. In the West, they are very successful and we should follow suit.

Re: # 7

my fault... i should`ve written....

``the very essence of university life....``

as i`ve said earlier, universities have become no more than secondary schools... every ``extra`` curricular activity is looked with suspicion.... a group of more than 20 students is not allowed to congregate lest they may start a new revolt against the VC... politics in the university is as much outlawed as girls in boys` hostels...

i mean... give us a break... the university students need to have a platform to express themselves

Kudos for a nice article!

There is another important point here. Military generals` interference into the uni policies has removed any trace of student activity from universities. Even local chapters of organizations like IEEE(purely academic) are suffering from a lack of space. Thus, military has not only done a damage to the political output but also to the acadmic one.

Re: # 8 Bubllu bhai, you are out of country for a while. Aren`t you?

Results have improved in military run universities simply because there is peace in the schools. Technical universities used to suffer loss of blood, and academic years just because a jamatiya sneezed in front of a QSF ruffian.

Developing countries all over the world produce raw material for the Western schools. Pakistan is doing its part.

International awards and recognitions are not heaped on mostly on MIT or Harvard.

You will be naive to ask how many Nobel prizes are given to developing countries (Pakistan, India, China, TrinkoMali, and Timbuktu).


So take easy, enjoy your Ramjan, and keep your Mullah happy.

Salaams and Namaste.

If military run educational institutions were good then the evidence should be clear in the form of results, international awards, recognitions , no of research papers or on campus recruitment trends........................

instead of jingoistic Paki Jernail as the pride of Pakistan look at the consequences of these blood sucking Jernails on the various boards of Pakistani institutions. They have fanged every institution and are slowly piosoning it with their stupid thoughts of bureaucratic grandeaur.

Do you have the guts to tell them this???

Re: # 4

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military VCs have largely been benificial but in an an attempt to be the perfect disciplanarians, they have killed the essence of a university education....

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Like how did they kill the essence? You mean they stop the senseless Jamatiya and QSF weapons? Or they kill the ``essence`` by keeping peaceful environment on the campuses?

Hahaaa! Chief Security Officer! Cheema jee, I will forward your excellent suggestion to pa Akram. I have a feeling he would throughly enjoy it! Let`s hope they still have that Suggestion and Comments box outside his office nowadays.

Very timely article Omar. I agree whole-heartedly with the fact that universities should not be under control of retired military personnel, unless of course the man/woman has been a teacher/researcher in the military. The fact that some military men have restored order and efficiency to certain universities is rather a discredit to our civil (and political) society then a credit to them.

I wrote emails to the HEC chairman and director, and got responses to the effect that appointment of a VC is the decision of the governor of the province and HEC has no say in it.

Regards,
Irfan.

it was time someone spoke out on this issue...
though i`ve always maintained that the military VCs have largely been benificial but in an an attempt to be the perfect disciplanarians, they have killed the essence of a university education....
i`ve lived close to UET, Lahore all my life and then have done my graduation there, i`ve seen first hand how the university has changed by the introduction of a military personnel as the VC....
the thing i hated most about UET was the amount of politics the students were engaged in, but now i believe that constructive politics has to be a very integral part of the university life, it`s probably the only way, we can see some actually learned people making up the ranks of the assemblies...
but it`s a sorry state of affairs that the military-controlled universities have become nothing more than secondary-schools with over-grown kids...

and the idea about a military personnel being appointed a chief security officer.... excellent... hope the powers that be take notice

Pakistan is under military rule. This is a plain and simple. It would logically have Military CEO-s, VC-s, VP-s, MP-s as well as PResidents. It is a fact of life. An Ostrich like approach to the problem of Pakistani occupation by its military only does harm to its citizens who grope around seeking solutions to its day to day problems by ignoring this ``root cause``. Do something to restore civilian democracy , send army back to barracks without any political controls and turn PAkistan into a Secular State.
Once Pakistanis do that much of its problems would be taken care of by the internal dynamics of democracies.

Pakistani Sarkari (State) Universities now have three entities. However the author just talks about one entity. Here is the list:

1. Military VCs
2. Pathetic but highly paid faculty
3. Muft-khor (free-loader) student body that happens to be a poli-ticking-time-bomb.

This is obviously a recipe for disastrous outcome from our sarkari universities. It is time to institute student loan system. Students should get loan and use that to pay full fees to the sarkari schools. Every year, student`s loan approval should be based on student performance.

Why do we need military VCs is exactly the reason why we have to call in BIG general to rule Islamabad. Our political parties are so pathetic that they would not do a thing for developing the country. Every sarkari school is bastion of every thing but education. Sarkari hostels are being abused by career student poli-ticking-time-bombs.

Our political parties encourage storing assault weapons right in those residence halls that were supposed to provide comfort to the hard working students.

It is time to run sarkari schools just like private schools with one exception. Students should get state funded student loan. After graduation, this loan should be either paid off in installments or one has to work for 5 years in backward areas.

Let`s fix the student body in sarkari schools, and military VCs would disappear.