ISLAMABAD: After weeks of rigorous scrutiny and clearance from the anti-corruption authorities, four noted academicians have made it to the final race for the post of Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, The News has learnt reliably.Highly placed sources told The News that a summary has been sent to the prime minister by the Ministry of Federal Education with four names to choose the new head of the Pakistan’s top regulator of the higher education.These eminent scientists include Dr Muhammad Mukhtar, Prof Dr Tariq Banuri, Prof Dr Iqbal Chaudhry and Prof Dr Anwarul Hassan Gilani, a source privy to the committee told The News. Former HEC chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad failed to make it to the list as he is facing an inquiry from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).According to sources, originally seven names were shortlisted by the committee but three names were retracted after failing to get clearance from the NAB. The committee was set to finalise the names last week but later it was decided to further shorten the list and take out all the controversial candidates who are facing NAB corruption inquiries.Despite a number of applications received by the search committee from women candidates, none of them made it to the last four. In total, more than 100 candidates applied for the post during selection process, including the current HEC Executive Director Dr Arshad. The search committee was headed by Syed Babar Ali while other members included Ms Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Dr Faisal Bari, Dr Sania Nishtar and Secretary Federal Education and Professional Training Akbar Ali Durrani.A member of the committee told The News that all four candidates are top education professionals with no political backing. “While shortlisting, international eminence, experience, publications and scientific standings were considered,” the member said.Prof Dr Tariq Banuri has broad experience in government, academia, civil society, and the international system. He has recently served as Director, Division for Sustainable Development, at the United Nations. Dr Tariq started his career in the Civil Service of Pakistan, went on to receive a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, joined the United Nations as a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER), a model that he adopted in setting up and serving as the founding Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Pakistan. He also served as member of the board of governors of Pakistan’s central bank, member of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council, and Member/Secretary of the Presidential Steering Committee on Higher Education, and as a Coordinating Lead Author of the Nobel Prize winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).Prof Dr Muhammad Mukhtar is Professor of Biotechnology at the Universiti Malaysia Pahang. He served as Vice Chancellor of Islamia University Bahawalpur and The Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan. He has 25 years’ experience in teaching and higher education institutions management. He received scholarship to complete Ph.D. from the Drexel University of Philadelphia, USA. He conducted diversified assignments in several parts of the world including Brazil, Portugal, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America. His teaching was recognised with the outstanding clinical faculty award 2005 from the Thomas Jefferson University of Philadelphia, and academic management with Asian Education Leadership Award 2012. He wrote about 100 research, review, book chapters, critiques and general articles.Professor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry is a scientist in the field of organic chemistry. He is known for his research in various areas relating to natural product chemistry. He has more than 1,000 research publications, including 32 books published and 63 patents. He has been awarded the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Hilal-e-Imtiaz. He graduated with BSc from Karachi University and later pursued his MSc in organic chemistry and then got his PhD in organic chemistry from HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry located at Karachi University with thesis titled as "The Isolation and Structural Studies on Some Medicinal Plants of Pakistan, Buxus papillosa, Catharanthus roseus, and Cissampelos pareira.Prof Dr Anwarul Hassan Gilani is Chairman Pakistan Council for Science. He is a distinguished pharmacologist who obtained his BSc Agri (Hon)-Nutrition and MSc in Pharmacology with distinction from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and started his professional career in 1979 as a lecturer of pharmacy at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. After completing his PhD (Pharmacology) from the University of Sydney, Australia in 1985, Dr Gilani joined the Aga Khan University as lecturer and rose to full professor in 1997. He became Chairman Pakistan Council for Science and Technology in Jan 2015. Prof Gilani also occupies the positions of Adjunct Professor at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, and holds the title of HEC Distinguished National Professor.
from The News International - National
0 comments: