Concerns voiced over KU hiring process

Senior faculty members of Karachi University have raised concerns over the newspaper advertisement that appeared on Wednesday inviting applications for appointments and promotions of teachers.

According to a group of teachers, the advertisement is not only against the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan’s set guidelines but also ignores the procedures for appointments that the varsity administration itself has laid down.

As per the HEC eligibility conditions for the appointment of a professor, the candidate must have a minimum qualification of PhD from a recognised institution in the relevant field, and 15 years’ teaching or research experience in a HEC-recognised university or a postgraduate national or international institution.

It is also mandatory for the candidate that he has published 15 research papers in a recognised journal, in which five papers must have been published in the last five years.

Likewise, the same rules are also applicable to the appointment of an associate professor. But the candidate for the associate professor’s position must have published 10 research papers with 10 years of teaching experience. He must have published at least four research papers in HEC-recognised journals.

In addition, the commission has also set the minimum qualification for the appointment of a lecturer. The candidate having a first-class MS or an MPhil degree awarded after 18 years of education in the relevant field from an HEC-recognised university or institution. No applicant with a 3rd division in the academic career will be eligible to apply for the lecturer’s post.

Even though the HEC has upgraded its rules but Karachi University has no plan to upgrade its criteria for appointments and promotions. A former member of the Karachi University Teachers Society told to The News on Thursday that Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan had formed a six-member committee comprising Dean Education Prof Dr Nasir Salman, Prof Dr Haris Shoaib and three members of the syndicate to set guidelines for advertisement. But due to the pressure from the KUTS, the VC set aside the guidelines made by the committee and even violated the HEC basic appointment and promotion rules. The varsity is even accepting applications from those who have published research papers in substandard journals and they don’t meet the criteria, according to a senior faculty member.

He further said the KU was already short of qualified teachers and such mismanagement would pave the way for nepotism. If the varsity appointed and promoted teachers as per the advertisement, it would affect the credibility and integrity of the country’s largest educational institution, he warned.

On the other hand, KUTS president Anila Ambar Malik said the advertisement was in favour of teachers and had helped curb the unrest among the teachers, who had been waiting for their promotions since long. It was not in accordance with the KUTS guidelines, she said.

In the past, some faculty members were promoted on the basis of their articles published in the journals approved by the Board of Advanced Studies and Research but not recognised by the HEC. Thus, it is the due right of faculties to be promoted like those who had been promoted and appointed in the earlier periods,” Malik added. Meanwhile, the KU spokesperson admitted that the advertisement was published after negotiations with the KUTS.