The election of VC of Dow University Health Sciences and Karachi University has come under intense heated public debate and scrutiny. For the selection of these posts, the Governor of Sind formed a “search committee” whose members included the incumbent vice chancellors of these two institutions. Blatant conflict of interest arose when the two incumbents nominated each other for extension of their respective terms. Members of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) called the process “scandalous” and “farcical”.

A call for dissolution of the search committee was made and it was demanded that the Higher Education Commission should conduct the selection process by inviting applications of able and deserving academicians. Under intense public pressure the Governor dissolved the search committee and for face saving the incumbent VCs were not made part of the committee. Higher Education Commission, however, remains out of the loop, raising skepticism about the fairness of the process.