LAHORE, Sept 17 (INP): The central President of Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA), Dr Mahboob Hussain has demanded effective implementation of 18th Constitutional Amendment in higher education sector through strengthening Provincial Higher Education Commissions at Punjab and Sindh and establishing provincial HECs in remaining two provinces i. e Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on priority basis.

Referring to decisions of Council of Common Interests (CCI), supreme constitutional body, he emphasised over amending the respective acts of Federal HEC and provincial HECs accordingly as the CCI has distributed higher education functions among federal and provincial governments. He repeated the FAPUASA 's principled stance of ensuring autonomy of universities and HECs.[timed-content-server show="09/18/2018 01:00 Asia/Karachi"] He stressed upon the PTI government to constitute new search committees comprising of eminent academics with sound experience in public sector universities in order to ensure merit based transparent appointments of vice chancellors in line of commitments made by PTI in its election manifesto. He said that adhocism and non-merit based appointments have adversely affected performance of higher education sector. It is high time to learn from past mistakes and ensure good governance in higher education sector through promoting culture of merit and transparency. He announced that FAPUASA would monitor all the key appointments of vice chancellors both at federal and provincial levels in order to ensure transparency. He said that without consultations and involvement of all the concerned stakeholders especially elected representatives of universities faculty in key policy decisions, the desired results could not be achieved in higher education sector of Pakistan. INP/AJ[/timed-content-server]