President Dr. Arif Alvi appoints Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal as the new rector of COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI).
President of Pakistan in his capacity as Chancellor of CUI has been pleased to appoint Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal as Rector of the COMSATS university with immediate effect. He will hold this office for a period of five years from the date of his joining, while the terms and conditions of this appointment shall be issued separately.
The minister for science and technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhry, who is pro-chancellor of the varsity, had earlier proposed three names to President that included Prof Dr. Muhammad Tabassum Afzal, Prof Dr. Mohammad Asif, Prof Mohammad Sohail Ghani and Dr. Asad Hussain for selection of one of them for this post.
A few months ago Fawad Chaudhry, through a letter, informed Dr. Alvi that COMSATS Institute of Information Technology was upgraded to COMSATS University through an act of parliament in March 2017.
After which the first meeting of the university senate could not be held until April 2019 and the appointment of the full-time rector was kept on delaying for one reason or the other.
“Although the senate formally constituted a search committee for the appointment of the full-time rector it could not finalize its recommendations because of the so-called technical hitches,” the minister observed.
Subsequently, Alvi chaired the meeting of the CUI this year and finalized three shortlisted candidates for the post of rector amongst them Dr. Mohammad Tabassum Afzal, Dr. Zabita Khan Shinwari and Dr. Mohammad Bilal were included.
The University has been facing issues that have worsened over the last three years because of such an appointment.
The absence of the academic council was another cause for the occurrence of the administrative issue in the varsity. Moreover, the registrar, directors of six campuses, and all the faculties’ deans and department chairs are working on acting charge, which is also a major reason for administrative disturbances.