11 university VC appointments draw Jamaat fire

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed deep concern over the government’s appointment of new vice chancellors at 11 public universities, alleging that political loyalty was given priority over merit, neutrality and acceptability.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Jamaat Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar said the appointments had created concern among the public as they appeared to be influenced by partisan considerations.
“Introducing such a culture of partisanship in the country’s highest seats of learning is deeply alarming for the nation,” he said.

Porwar said universities should remain centres of free thinking, research and knowledge creation. Appointing individuals to key academic administrative posts on political grounds, he warned, could damage the academic environment and create divisions among teachers.

He also said such appointments could affect students by disrupting the normal atmosphere of higher education.

“The people do not want to see a repeat of the instability, session backlogs and violence that once affected the country’s education system due to politicisation,” the Jamaat leader said.

Calling on the government to reconsider the appointments, Porwar urged the authorities to appoint qualified, impartial and widely acceptable individuals as vice chancellors.

The statement came amid growing debate over political influence in public institutions. Jamaat said it had earlier issued a statement on March 15 protesting the appointment of party-backed administrators in 42 district councils.

At that time, the party said appointing administrators on partisan grounds instead of elected representatives was contrary to democratic values and could lead to the politicisation of local government.

Porwar said the government had not moved away from that trend and was now extending similar practices to higher education institutions.

Jamaat warned that political appointments in universities could undermine academic neutrality, weaken institutional credibility and harm the country’s higher education system.