Wanted: VCs

On October 1, 2022 Dr Anthony Freeling became the acting vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge – the first person to hold this office in the over eight hundred years of the university’s existence.

Dr Freeling’s appointment was necessitated because Professor Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor since 2017, decided not to finish his seven-year term, and resigned two years early. Thus, an anomalous situation was created and Dr Freeling stepped in to act as vice-chancellor till a regular incumbent, Professor Deborah Prentice, was appointed on July 1, 2023. One wishes that such ‘anomalous’ situations were the fate of universities in Punjab too, as only then can we aspire to become like the University of Cambridge.

As I write, nearly thirty universities in Punjab, – a vast majority of the public-sector universities in the province – are without vice-chancellors and are being run by acting vice-chancellors, some for longer than even a year now. Something which should be only an anomaly is now the norm in the province. Our resource and intellectually scarce higher education sector cannot take this additional hit of being leaderless, and its quality with further deteriorate if this situation is not immediately rectified.

This is not to say that acting vice-chancellors are incapable – a lot of them are perhaps better than the regular ones, but being hamstrung by the uncertainty of tenure and the inability to make major decisions simply wastes their potential and makes the university they serve only a bed of indecision and insecurity.

Since the establishment of the Higher Education Commission in 2002, Pakistan has seen a proliferation of universities, both in the public and private sectors. With a burgeoning young population – 65 per cent of the total – the demand for higher education has been and will remain strong. The unplanned expansion of higher education has led to the creation of ‘degree mills’ where the bare minimum is taught, if that, and the focus is solely on achieving a piece of paper. This has severely deteriorated the quality of education in the country, leading to mediocrity fast becoming the norm.

As the administrative and academic head of the university, the office of vice-chancellor is central to the success of a varsity. A bad appointment can nose-dive a rising trajectory, while a good choice can resurrect a sinking institution. Unfortunately, successive governments – and even the courts recently – have treated the selection of vice-chancellors as a political decision, an almost criminal behaviour.

At present, the vice-chancellor of a public-sector university in Punjab is chosen by a ‘search committee’ appointed by the government. This search committee interviews candidates who have applied for the post after an advertisement and recommends to the government a panel of three persons in alphabetical order. The chancellor, the governor of Punjab, then appoints one person out of the three for a term of four years. A more flawed process could not be devised. Why? Let me point out four critical issues.

First, the government almost never appoints a search committee before the end of the tenure of a vice-chancellor. This means that even in the best cases there is at least a six-month needless gap between incumbents. Since the government knows when the tenure of a vice-chancellor is ending, the process should start at least a year ahead of time.

Second, while the search committee appointed by the government usually comprises persons of high repute, it is often made up of people unrelated to the university. Many times, one search committee recommends candidates for several universities. Treating the specific needs and conditions of a university with such disdain can only ensure that unsuited, but otherwise good, candidates are often recommended. Without any input and devoid of any representation from the university itself, the search committee simply searches in the dark.

Third, the search committee is only empowered to interview candidates who apply against an advertisement. While this was the process worldwide a while ago, things have dramatically changed in recent decades. Almost all top, and even middle and low tier, universities in the world now use headhunters, since many times the best candidates need to be convinced and lured into applying. Being unable to select the right person because of the advertisement limitation severely handicaps the selection process.

Fourth, making the recommendation list alphabetical rather than according to priority, makes the decision very political, as it gives the chancellor complete control over who to appoint out of the top three. It takes away the possible large differences between the first priority and the third-placed candidate, and other important considerations the search committee might have made.

So, what to do? The government should immediately revamp the system of appointment of vice-chancellors of public-sector universities by employing international standards. Only then will we be able to move from mediocrity to excellence. A few critical steps are needed here: In the first instance, the government should appoint an internal search committee, composed of one member from each constituent faculty, for each university with a vice chancellor vacancy. This committee would draw up a profile and the specific needs of the university, resulting in a detailed job description of the vice-chancellor. This is critical if each university is to develop and thrive as a separate unit, and to prevent a ‘one size fits all’ mentality.

Second, the government-appointed vice-chancellor search committee (VCSC) should be separate for each university, with at least one person from the specific university search committee. This committee would then use the profile and needs analysis of the university as the basis of its selection criteria. This mix of the committee would ensure both an internal and external voice, making it more focused, inclusive and transparent.

Third, the VCSC should be empowered to headhunt suitable candidates and ask them to apply in addition to the usual advertisement. This would ensure a wider and more diverse net. Fourth, the three names recommended to the chancellor should be in order of priority not alphabetically, to ensure the priority of merit. Fifth, the chancellor should select the first priority person on the list, and if, for some reason, the chancellor deems the person unfit for the position, he/she should record the reason in writing, ensuring transparency.

There is a new government in Punjab, and – as a first, we have a woman chief minister in the province. Therefore, it is critical that the appointment process of vice-chancellors is made transparent, inclusive, and completely apolitical – and that it is done now.

The writer is an historian

based in Lahore. He tweets/posts

@BangashYK and can be contacted at: yaqoob.bangash@gmail.com.