Time to focus on quality of education, says minister

LAHORE:Federal Minister for Education Rana Tanveer Hussain on Friday said that instead of the mushroom growth of higher education institutions, they need to focus on the quality of education in colleges and universities.

Addressing an opening session of 21st convocation of GC University Lahore, where he along with Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi awarded degrees and medals to outstanding graduates, the minister also hinted at linking the federal grants to universities with their performance.

The minister announced a grant of Rs100 million for the GC University primarily to replicate the University’s clock tower along with a building on its New Campus at Kala Shah Kaku. A total of 1,984 degrees would be awarded this year during the two-day convocation, which included 667 MS/MPhil, 29 MSc and 1265 BA/BSc (Hons) degrees.

In the opening session, Vice Chancellor Prof Zaidi shared the development, progress and achievements of the last year, saying that this year we completed 20 years as a university and we are celebrating it by initiating Rs580 million projects to improve student services at the University.

Prof Zaidi added that a comprehensive campus management system was being developed to automate most of the services of the University to facilitate students, and the University is also replacing and upgrading its redundant IT infrastructure. He also said that the construction of a new girls’ hostel, swimming pool and grand mosque would also be completed this year.

Earlier, the federal minister and vice chancellor presented ‘Prof GD Sondhi Medal’ for overall excellent performance to M Imran Yousaf and Adil Akram Awan, “M Idrees Medal” for Best English Debater to Zainab Zaman Talat, “Daud Ilyas Medal” for outstanding intermediate student to Mian M Talha and Anas Rehman, “Dr Saeeda Karamat Medal” for Best Woman Graduate to Maria Mubarak and Memoona Imtiaz, “Waleed Iqbal Medal” for Best Parliamentary Speaker to Daud Ali Kharal, “M Shahbaz Sharif Medal” for Best Urdu Speaker to Tauseef Mehmood and “Madeeha Gohar Medal” for the Best Female Actor to Marukh Arshad, “Tariq Salman Khan Farani Medal” for best music student to Amanat Ali Bela, while “Thespian Medal” for excellent performance in Dramatics was conferred upon Mubashir Mehmood.

The vice chancellor also awarded the Ali Sadpara Medal to Moazzam Khan, and Fatima Jinnah Medal to Syeda Naima Kazmi.

The VC also granted the lifetime award to three alumni; Ch. Akhtar Rasool for his contributions to sports, Usman Peerzada for his work in theatre and Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman for his contributions to philanthropy.