Minister declares QAU as flagship institute of country

Islamabad :Amid a call for the immediate huge funding, the Quaid-i-Azam University on Wednesday held a ceremony to celebrate the honour of securing a position among top 500 universities of the world in prestigious Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

The QAU reached the 401-500th category in the recent rankings from the 601-800 position last year.

While addressing the ceremony, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Engineer Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman congratulated the faculty, staff, students and alumni for securing place in top 500 universities of the world.

“It is a matter of great pride for the nation that QAU has achieved recognition at international level” he said. The minister assured the university that all issues including the financial matter and encroachment of the university land would be solved on priority.

“We have the political will to clear the QAU land from the encroachers” he added. The minister said the universities should introduce strict regulations to eliminate drug usage and menace of extremism on the campus and increase focus on character building of the students along with academic activities.

He declared QAU as the 'flagship university' of the country. QAU Vice Chancellor Dr. Javed Ashraf said the commitment, dedication and hard work of the faculty was acknowledged by this international recognition.

He said the QAU was the only academic institution in the country that included in a list of the world’s top 500 universities and in addition, it had consistently been ranked top in the country by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

"During the last three years on campus, his priority was to facilitate and encourage faculty to produce quality research. The research publications of the university have touched the number 1306 in 2016 and in 2017 the number would be higher," he said.

President of the QAU Academic Staff Association Dr. Muhammad Ishtiaq Ali also congratulated the faculty, staff and students for securing a place among Global top 500 universities. He requested the minister to help address severe funding constraints of the university.

"The government of Pakistan and Higher Education Commission should approve a special package for Pakistan’s top varsity," he said. After the ceremony, the VC along with Deans of the faculties and Registrar briefed the media regarding different steps that university have taken to improve the standards of research and teaching on campus.