PU Senate approves faculties restructuring

LAHORE:The 356th meeting of Punjab University Senate on Thursday approved the restructuring of the faculties, which is aimed at transforming the university as per modern requirements of the academic world. Out of 150 participants, 145 members voted in favour, two showed disagreement while three opined to form a committee on the issue.

Punjab Governor/Chancellor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar presided over the meeting. PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Dr Saleem Mazhar, all faculties’ deans and members participated in the online meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar said that the universities autonomy would not be compromised and the universities would be expunged of politics. He appreciated the Punjab University’s role in combating COVID-19 and teaching the Holy Quran with translation in the universities. He said the Punjab government kept education on top priority and the universities were being encouraged and supported at every level. Briefing the Senate on the recent PU affairs, PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed said that due to several initiatives taken by the administration in all the university disciplines, PU had jumped 54 points in QS Asian Universities Ranking and the restructuring of the university would help to improve PU’s international ranking further. He said the faculties’ restructuring had been proposed after deliberations of two years on relevant fora. Following the promotion of research culture, university’s nine faculty members had been ranked among top 2 percent researchers of the world, he said adding the university had launched academic programmes for meeting the national requirements in the energy sector.

Another landmark achievement of PU was approval of its cotton seed by the government and soon it would be commercialised which would boost the country’s agricultural economy, he added. In the history of Punjab University, the number of full professors could not exceed 70 but now the university has more than 150 professors, he said.

The VC said the university had been digitised and for the first time in Pakistan, proctor based online examinations were successfully taken. He said the university had also established BSL-3 level laboratory and started corona tests to help government in curbing the disease. He said that PU established Web TV, telemedicine centre and mental health helpline for creating awareness among the people and mental rehabilitation of the society facing the pandemic. He said that PU College of Art and Design, Directorate of Student Affairs and Sports Department organised competitions to engage the society in healthy activities during lockdown.

The meeting approved the recommendations of Syndicate and Academic Council and upgradation of posts of private secretary, PA, senior stenographer, stenographer, qasid and daftri. The meeting also approved previous proceedings of the Senate meeting. PUASA President Dr Mumtaz Anwar and Secretary Javed Sami termed faculties’ restructuring a historic moment and thanked the VC for bringing changes to the academic departments. They said that the restructuring would help to produce quality graduates as per modern requirements of relevant fields.