PU terminates 12 professors who went abroad on scholarships but never returned to serve

LAHORE – Punjab University (PU) terminated 12 professors who went missing after receiving foreign scholarships worth millions of rupees and never returned to serve, the sources within the varsity said on Saturday.

A university spokesperson stated that Punjab University would write to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to recover the funds from the absconding scholars.

The univeristy would also write the letters to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior to block the absconding professors’ national identity cards and passports.

Punjab University had granted millions of rupees to 56 faculty members to pursue PhDs abroad.

Among them, seven received scholarships from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and five were funded directly by the university.

As per policy, all recipients were required to serve at the university for five years upon completing their degrees. However, 12 of the 56 professors failed to rejoin the university after completing their studies and disappeared without fulfilling their service obligations.

Under the terms of their contracts, those who failed to return were required to repay the full amount of the scholarships worth millions of rupees.