Generally speaking, a meek vice-chancellor subservient to his/her political masters and willing to connive at any sort of machination is the ideal choice for the apparatchiks who have taken it upon themselves to control the academia.
Some curious facts gleaned from Internet are worth mentioning here. After all, she has been at the helm of this institution which enjoys some prestige at national level.
Firstly, what is known about her academic career is that she was a professor in the DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION at Aligarh University. The Aligarh University page which still sports her name tells us that she is an MA.
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Her "Area of specialisation" is an obscure "Psychology of Education English". That's indeed funny for a university professor. If the faculty page of the university page existing since 2001 states that her area of specialisation is "Psychology of Education English" it states something about the person who specialises thus. It looks like that the professor is either incompetent in determining her own area of specialisation or incapable of understanding the ridiculousness of the gibberish presented as her area of specialisation. Another source also bears this out. See the mention of her area on the UGC website.
| Sex: M Specialisation: Educational Psychology Teaching of English Date of Birth: Subject: Psychology/Applied Psychology University: Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh |
"Specialisation: Educational Psychology Teaching of English" is not any less ridiculous than the "Psychology of Education English". It couldn't be an accident that both websites cite her specialisation in equally absurd terms. As for the gender, it is evidently a mistake which has remained there for several years.
As seen on the Aligarh faculty page her distinction seems to be that she doesn't have a PhD wheras all the other members excepting another guy do have PhD. Not that PhD is a big deal but looking for the reason that swayed the decision to choose her, one cannot disregard such facts. Distinctions are distinctions, dubious or not.
Secondly, she has co-edited a book which looks like her sole footing in the academic publishing.
Muslim women: problems and prospects, By Zakia A. Siddiqi, Anwar Jahan Zuberi, Aligarh Muslim University, India. University Grants Commission, Papers presented at a National Seminar on "Muslim Women: Problems and Prospects", 1990, held at A.M.U. Women's College, Aligarh and organized by Aligarh Muslim University and University Grants Commission.
That's not much of a footing. Editing a collection of papers presented in a seminar is not an academic feat and it is not even worth counting when the party has no evident role in the venture. And Prof. Zuberi doesn't seem to have contributed a singe line to this book as even the preface is written solely by the other lady which looks very strange and almost like a snub on her fellow editor.
Thirdly, she is on the governing body of a private institution affiliated to the University of Calicut. See.
This is highly inappropriate as it can give rise to conflict of interests. To all academic sensibilities, the governing body membership of a private diploma seller couldn't be an honour for the vice-chancellor of a university. I don't know what the lady thinks about that.
A web search on Prof. Zuberi unearthed this page where a PhD scholar apparently nettled by the raw deal he/she receieved from a colleague of Prof. Zuberi chose to lambast at these people online. Prof. Zuberi is spoken about in his/her complaint not in very gratifying terms.
Let me round this off with a personal, lighter side of her vice-chancellorship. A netlog account is there for everyone to see in her name where a very poetic and romantic syndicate member called C P Aboobacker accosts her with polite nonsense. I had to mention this poet cum apparatchik for his poetic exploits that jarred on my sensibilities earlier. Here also, there is no let-up in his grandiosity.
I am writer. I want to get knowm as such. I write a lot. Most are poems. I write news and report, too.Although the vice-chancellor hasn't an email ID (the university website doesn't give one and the one seen on the Aligarh page is long dead) she seems to have created a Netlog account.
Post Script
Dr. M. G. S. Narayanan a noted historian and a former professor at the University of Calicut was reported in Mathrubhumi on April 8 2010 to have said that the vice-chancellor of the University of Calicut was no more qualified than a school teacher. You can see the screenshot of Mathrubhumi report below. I wonder if the stupid guys who filed a cyber crime complaint against me for this blog post would do the same against Dr. M G S and Mathrubhumi.
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