The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi. THE appointments of several public-sector vice chancellors are being challenged in court. Recent examples include the Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Women University Swabi, the University of Karachi and the Federal Urdu University. Not too long ago, Dr Asim Hussain, chairman of the Sindh Higher Education Commission, said that unfit people were being appointed as VCs in Sindh’s public universities. In a letter to the chief minister, he raised serious concern about the capacity and moral fitness of such academics to lead universities. The competition to head universities is intense and ugly, with many senior faculty members aspiring to the post. The perks and privileges, social status, high visibility in ceremonial events, frequent interaction with public functionaries as well as foreign travel beckon academics in this direction. Whenever an advertisement for a VC post is announced, hundreds of applications are filed. While the Higher Education Commission and provincial governments — which administratively control higher education in their respective jurisdictions after the 18th Amendment — claim to have devised transparent criteria, many of our public-sector universities are led by submissive personalities or cronies. They are not independent-minded academics as required. The meritorious VCs of yore were invited to lead varsities as a mission; it wasn’t simply a job assignment.