The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Sindh recommended that the government of Sindh do a performance audit of the vice chancellors of public universities throughout the state.
This initiative is the first of its kind to be executed in Pakistan’s academic history, including in Sindh.
A summary given by the Sindh HEC titled “Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Senior Academic and Non-Academic Positions in Public Sector Universities” has been accepted by the Chief Minister of Sindh, who also acts as the province’s maintaining body for public institutions.
The decision to do performance audits of important university officials, including vice chancellors, has been effective immediately after this approval. Vice chancellors’ performance will now be closely connected to a system of rewards and accountability.
The approved summary indicates that vice chancellors will not be the only ones subject to the performance audit.
Pro-vice chancellors, directors of finance, deans of faculties, registrars, heads of departments, directors of ORIC and QAC, and controllers of examinations are among the other important university officials who will also be assessed.
For each of these roles, Sindh HEC has created certain KPIs, which have also been legally recognized.
The Sindh HEC has shared this new monitoring and evaluation framework with the Federal HEC and the higher education authorities in the other three provinces, according to information obtained by news source.
This makes it possible for the federal government and other provinces to implement an equivalent system if they so would like.
It is essential to note that three years ago, Sindh established the Search Committee Act, which regulates the appointment of vice chancellors. A legal provision in the Act permits the Search Committee to rate the vice chancellors’ performance.
This procedure is codified in the newly approved summary, which states that the Search Committee and Sindh HEC would evaluate the performance of vice chancellors and other important officials every two years.
