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Friday March 29, 2024

Body to search PU VC notified

By Khalid Khattak
April 20, 2018

LAHORE: Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab on Thursday notified the much-awaited Vice Chancellor (VC) Search Committee for Punjab University.

As per the notification, noted industrialist Razak Dawood is convener of the committee while its members include Dr Umar Saif, PITB Chairman and founding VC of Information Technology University (ITU), Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Chairman Accreditation Committee Punjab, and Dr Fauzia Waqar, Chairperson Punjab Commission for Women. Secretary HED Punjab is the secretary and the member of the VC Search Committee.

The committee has been mandated to submit its recommendations for the selection of panel for appointment of Punjab University.

Sources in the HED said the department would soon issue advertisement for the post of VC Punjab University. The sources further said the committee would also be mandated to nominate candidates for the post for the initial process including shortlisting call for interview before the committee. Once the committee shortlists candidates after an interview, it will forward a panel of three candidates to the chief minister who will finally select the most suitable candidate.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has announced establishing a university in district Sialkot. According to the notification, the university to be called University of Sialkot will have its campus in Sialkot. The University of Sialkot Act 2018 has already been promulgated on March 20, 2018.

Separately, the HED has reconstituted Narowal sub-campus of University of Gujrat as a new university to be called the University of Narowal. The University of Narowal Act 2018 has also been promulgated on March 20, 2018.

Our correspondent adds: The Qira’at and Naat Society of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Thursday arranged inter-departmental Naat, Qira’at and Aazan contests. A large number of students from various departments of UVAS were participated in these contests.

According to a press release, in Qira’at contest, Hafiz Muhammad Shakir (DVM) and Hafiza Hajira (BBA) bagged first position, Hafiz Muhammad Rehan (IPS) and Mehvish (IPS) got second while Hafiz Abdullah (IPS) and Nimra (IPS) got third position.

In Naat contest, Mahmood Raza (MBA) and Sidra Qurban (BS) won first position, Mohsin (Micro) and Jaweria Gulzar (IBBT) got second and Irfan (MBA) and Saira Aziz (DVM) got third position.

In Aazan contest, Hafiz Muhammad Shakir (DVM) won first position.

Senior Tutor Prof Dr Kamran Ashraf along with Prof Dr Yasin Tipu co-chaired the concluding ceremony and distributed shields and certificates among the winners of the contests.

Meanwhile, UVAS Vice-Chancellor Meritorious Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha inaugurated new cafeteria named “Urban Khokha” here at UVAS city campus.

Lecture: Punjab University (PU) Department of Economics in collaboration with Pakistan National Highway & Motorway Police Thursday organised a lecture on “Road Safety & Traffic Awareness”. DSP Afzal Majeed, Road Safety Officer Rana Irfan, Department of Economics Chairperson Dr Kalsoom Zulfiqar, faculty members and students were present on the occasion.

According to a press release, Rana Irfan highlighted the various aspects of road safety provided by the Motorway Police. He informed the participants about the causes due to which 12,000 people were dying annually in road accidents. The safety measures and precautions were shown in the form of documentaries.

Afzal Majeed expressed his gratitude to the department and the university for arranging the lecture. Dr Kalsoom concluded the lecture by briefing the students about the importance of traffic rules.

Afzal presented a souvenir to Dr Kalsoom on behalf of the Motorway Police. PU: Terming the claims of Islami Jamiat Talaba a pack of lies, the Punjab University spokesman has said that the university administration has not increased tuition fee in the last 10 years, and students were being provided with maximum subsidies as compared to all other public and private sector universities in Pakistan.

According to a press release issued here on Thursday, the spokesman said that all the allegation of IJT were baseless since the administration had already provided facilities to the students.

He said all the students had been accommodated in the hostels on merit. He said the PU Library also remained open on Saturdays according to the routine. He said the issue of one degree programme of IER with Punjab government had already been resolved.

Regarding construction of new hostels for girls, the spokesman said the university was yet to receive funds from the Punjab government. He said the PU was providing a huge subsidy of Rs 117 million to the students living in hostels. He said the demand of opening more gates would create security risk for university population and this demand of IJT showed that they wanted to create security issues on campus.

He said that PU charged the lowest fee from students in both morning and evening programmes as compared to other public sector universities.

He said the PU had the largest transport system with 54 buses in its fleet and providing a subsidy of Rs 48.445 million in transport sector to students. He said the PU was providing a subsidy of Rs 25million to provide best internet facilities to the students in hostels and academic departments. Many other subsidies worth millions of rupees were being provided to students under different budget heads, he added.