Page 81 - EW-January-2026

of 30 of the people in charge. They found the Taliban had
dismissed 97.5 percent of senior administrators appointed
before 2021, when Taliban retook control of the country
following the exit of US and UK troops. Only 8 percent of
the administrators now in post hold a Ph D and only three
presidents were also faculty members. Instead, the findings
show that four-fifths of administrators — and 87 percent of
presidents — come from the Pashtun ethnic group that the
Taliban movement is deeply rooted in. Of all appointees, 44
percent were trained in Islamic seminaries, rising to 77.5
percent of all presidents.
Their paper, published in the journal Studies in Higher
Education, says there has been “a clear shift away from
merit-based academic administration and toward ap-
pointments based on madrasa education, ethnic ties and
ideological allegiance”. It argues that “under Taliban rule, Wang Fuk Court housing complex fire. Inset: Xinyan Huang
universities have shifted from spaces of critical inquiry and
intellectual engagement to tools of ideological reproduc- cident drew controversy. Speaking to Al Jazeera, he had
tion”. raised concerns about the use of bamboo for scaffolding
The consequences for women, says Orfan, are “especially during major building works, saying it is “structurally weak-
severe” — after the ban on women’s participation in late er and less stable than steel” and should be phased out.
2022, administrators “enforced the policy without excep- But Huang later said that he had not intended to imply
tion, effectively erasing women from university life”. He that bamboo scaffolding was the major factor in the fire’s
warns that international collaboration is also now com- spread. He said he had misspoken on several issues, includ-
promised: “Because these institutions are now tightly con- ing observing that the fire appeared to climb “in one or two
trolled by the Taliban, international partners cannot rely on minutes” to 30 floors and wrongly stating that fire engines
them to make independent decisions or uphold scholarly from mainland China had been deployed. “This interview
commitments… Any collaboration with institutions under has underscored the need for rigour and prudence in public
Taliban control would require censorship and compromises commentary,” he says adding “as an academic, I recognise
that undermine academic integrity.” that my statements carry responsibilities to factual accu-
racy and professional integrity. “Moving forward, I will
HONG KONG uphold our academic mission’s core principles: verifying
Free speech limits information thoroughly, basing remarks on evidence and
expertise, and exercising greater caution. This experience
AN ACADEMIC WHO SPOKE OUT ABOUT PUB- reinforces my commitment to responsible engagement on
LIC safety in the wake of Hong Kong’s worst fire public safety and community issues.”
in more than 70 years has been forced to apologise Students have also been thrown into the spotlight in the
for “inaccurate” information, while students calling for an aftermath of the blaze, drawing comparisons with the 2019
independent inquiry into the tragedy have faced arrest. pro-democracy protests. A 24-year-old student from the
The territory’s universities have been pulled into the cri- Chinese University of Hong Kong was arrested for alleged
sis after the blaze killed at least 151 people at the Wang Fuk sedition after distributing flyers calling for an independent
Court housing complex on November 26. Seven of the es- inquiry into the incident.
tate’s eight tower blocks, which were undergoing extensive The online petition he promoted drew more than 10,000
renovation at the time, caught fire after protective netting signatures before it was wiped. It listed “four demands”,
was found not to meet flame-retardant standards. including the establishment of an investigative committee.
The fire spread rapidly and took over 40 hours and more John Lee, Hong Kong’s chief executive, says he will
than 2,000 firefighters to extinguish. Hong Kong’s build- launch a judicial inquiry, marking the first such investiga-
ings department has since suspended work on 30 private tion since the introduction of the National Security Law in
projects, while at least 13 people, including directors of a 2020. He says the committee will “review why the fire broke
construction company, have been arrested for suspected out and spread so fast, and to prevent similar tragedies from
manslaughter. happening again”. The Office for Safeguarding National Se-
Xinyan Huang, associate professor in the department curity warned that those who sought to “disrupt Hong Kong
of building environment and energy engineering at Hong through disaster” would be “strictly punished”.
Kong Polytechnic University, was forced to issue a detailed (Excerpted and adapted from The Economist and Times
clarification after media interviews he gave about the in- Higher Education)

JANUARY 2026 EDUCATIONWORLD 81