Murad Ali Shah yet to receive shortlisted names for new KU vice chancellor

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah is yet to receive the summary containing the names of candidates shortlisted by the search committee for the appointment of a permanent vice chancellor (VC) at the University of Karachi (KU).

The committee on Tuesday had interviewed six of the seven shortlisted candidates, who included Prof Dr Rukhsar Ahmed, the dean faculty at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto University of Law, Prof Dr Khalil Ahmed Ibupoto of the Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam, Prof Dr Mehdi Hassan Kazmi, the chairperson of the KU applied chemistry department, Prof Dr Fateh Muhammad Burfat, the University of Sindh (SU) Jamshoro VC, Prof Dr Abid Hussain of KU, and Prof Dr Khalid Mehmood Iraqi who is currently serving as the KU acting VC.

Prof Dr Muhammad Yousaf Khushk, pro-vice chancellor of the Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur did not appear before the interview panel on Tuesday.

When The News tried to trace the summary, sources of the universities and boards department said the summary containing the names of the shortlisted candidates had been sent to the chief secretary’s office to forward it to the CM for approval. However, the chief secretary was out of the city, due to which the CM had not received the summary yet.

After the CM receives the summary, he will finalise one of the shortlisted names for the KU VC’s post and tell the chief secretary to direct the universities and boards department to issue an official notification on the VC’s appointment.

Regarding the names shortlisted by the search committee, there have been many unconfirmed reports. One of the recent media reports claimed that Prof Iraqi and Prof Burfat are the only two names shortlisted by the committee. However, commenting on this report, SU academic Dr Arfana Mallah said Prof Burfat was unlikely to be on the list as only one year remained in his retirement and in case he was appointed as the VC, the government would have to initiate the appointment process again after a year.

A source in the universities and boards department said there were actually three names shortlisted by the search committee – Prof Iraqi, Prof Burfat and Prof Hussain. However, the source added that Prof Hussain’s name was added just to complete the formalities as the committee was supposed to forward three names to the CM.