UET plagiarists | Laptops for teachers

Punishment to UET officials 'justified'
Lahore, Feb 16: The University of Engineering and Technology administration has dispelled the impression that varsity Syndicate has dished out "engineered punishments" to the plagiarists.

In a clarification, the UET administration has stated that punishments were awarded to the plagiarists on merits of each case by the competent authority.

Stating there was a provision in the project for hiring research assistant/technician, the administration said hiring of research assistant was approved on the request of the principal investigator Prof Dr Sohail Aftab Qureshi.

However, it said, when it was established that no research had been carried out, and the research report was submitted on the basis of plagiarised papers, Prof Qureshi was punished for misuse of research funds.

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'Engineered' punishments for UET plagiarists
Lahore: The syndicate of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore, has held Prof Dr Suhail Aftab Qureshi of Electrical Engineering Department guilty of misusing research fund and asked him to refund Rs667,047.

The syndicate also warned Electrical Engineering Department's Prof Dr Muhammad Naeem Ayyaz, City and Regional Planning Department's Prof Dr S Shabihul Hassan Zaidi to be careful in the future. The two teachers faced plagiarism charges. Chemistry Department's Prof (retired) Dr Inamul Haq was debarred from taking any academic, research or administrative assignment in the university in the future for his plagiarism.

The four office orders were issued on Tuesday on the basis of a new-year evening Syndicate meeting.

Dr Qureshi, president of university's Teaching Staff Association, had received Rs700,000 for a research project titled 'Generating electricity energy from electrostatic vibration'. The office-order says Prof Qureshi should refund Rs667,047 for inappropriate and non-judicious utilisation of funds.

Prof Qureshi, however, claimed funds were not spent on the research project, adding Vice Chancellor Lt-Gen (retired) Muhammad Akram had illegally got money from the fund to buy two air-conditioners to be installed in the department lab. He said the vice-chancellor had also appointed an assistant and now demanding recovery of the salary.

Prof Qureshi said that he was punished twice in the same case. Last year, the Syndicate had noted that as per a report by the plagiarism committee, Prof Qureshi did not make any significant progress in the project despite spending Rs625,000 on the project. However, he published two plagiarized research papers as his progress report. The syndicate debarred him from sponsorship of research funding; travel grants; supervision of PhD and MSc students except those currently being supervised; and fellowship or any other funded programme for three years.

Prof Qureshi said that he had been elected TSA president for the ninth time and teachers acknowledged the fact that he was being victimized.

He also alleged that his opponents in the TSA elections had also used Syndicate's meeting minutes against him but he was still voted by a large majority of teaching community.

Stating that the plagiarism case and research grant issue was also pending with court, Prof Qureshi said all other accused for plagiarism had been let scot-free after issuing simple censures. Dawn

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UET, NCEG to install 12 earthquake sensors in KP
Peshawar: The Earthquake Engineering Centre of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET) and National Centre of Excellence in Geology (NCEG), University of Peshawar, on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to join hands for cooperation in earthquake engineering, seismology and disaster risk reduction.

The UET Vice-chancellor, Imtiaz Hussain Gilani, and Director NCEG Dr Asif Khan formally signed the MoU under which a network of earthquake sensors will be installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The agreement is part of the Earthquake Engineering Centre of the University of Engineering and Technology initiative, strong motion instrumentation programme (SMIP) that was established in 2007 on the model of State of California Geological Survey's SMIP and technical assistance of Department of Conservation, State of California.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Asif said that under the MoU the Earthquake Engineering Centre and NCEG will install 12 earthquake sensors in selective regions of the province to obtain data in measuring ground motion and effects of earthquake shaking on different soil types.

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Teachers to get laptops on performance: Shahbaz
Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has announced that laptops would be given to the teachers showing excellent performance for their encouragement and improving the standard of education.

He directed that procedure for this purpose should soon be evolved. He was talking to a delegation of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association led by its President Dr Zahid Ahmad here on Wednesday.

Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, Zaeem Hussain Qadri and secretaries of finance, law and higher education were also present. The chief minister said the Punjab government was taking solid measures to improve education sector and the affairs of teaching community.

Referring to the service structure of the teachers, he announced that 10 seats would be allocated for college teachers in grade 21 out of which five would be for male and five for female teachers. He also gave approval to improving the 4-tier formula regarding promotion of college teachers.

He said that solution to genuine problems of teachers was the responsibility of the government, however, teaching community should play their role in imparting knowledge to the young generation.

Agreeing to the proposal of Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association President Dr Zahid Ahmad, he said that in the first phase laptops would be given to the teachers showing outstanding performance in the teachers' convention.

Dr Zahid Ahmad thanked the chief minister for accepting the demands of the college teachers. bus Rapid Transit: Shahbaz Sharif has said Punjab government is implementing a comprehensive programme for the speedy development of the province and provision of basic amenities to the masses.

The chief minister said work had been started on the project of Bus Rapid Transit for the first time in the history of the country. The chief minister said this during a meeting with assembly members of various districts here on Wednesday.

The assembly members apprised the chief minister of development activities and problems of the people of their respective areas. The chief minister said Punjab Educational Endowment Fund, Daanish schools, Punjab Education Foundation, IT labs and other such projects were leaving a positive impact on education sector.

He said distribution of 125,000 laptops among students would be completed by the end of next month. Similarly, he said that 300,000 laptops would be given to brilliant students next year.

The chief minister said that self-employment scheme had been launched for the provision of job opportunities to the educated youth and yellow cabs and interest-free loans were being given to the youth. The assembly members who met the chief minister included Ch Saud Majeed, Malik Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath, Ch Nadim Abbas Rabera and former parliamentarian Naghma Mushtaq Lung.

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352 PU employees regularised
Lahore: Punjab University organised a ceremony to distribute letters of regularisation of services among employees of BS-2 to BS-7. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran was the chief guest while Registrar Prof Dr Khan Rass Masood, senior faculty members, administrative officers and employees were also present. It is noteworthy that the PU regularised the services of 352 contract/daily wage employees of the varsity.

Addressing the ceremony, VC Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran congratulated the employees and said it was a blessing that Almighty Allah had provided them an opportunity to serve people. "Now you should make a commitment to work with honesty and think how you can provide relief to people in accordance with rules and regulations in the stipulated time," he added.

The administration had also regularised services of employees in 2009 and many of them were working since 1976, 1980 and 1985. distinction: The Punjab University's Department of Applied Psychology faculty member Prof Dr Yasmin Farooqi's manuscript titled "Muslim Contribution to Psychotherapy" has been accepted for publication as Monograph by the renowned publishing house, Lambert Academic Publishing (LAP) Company, Germany.

According to a press statement, PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran congratulated Dr Yasmin Farooq on the development and said the varsity was proud of her. event: Punjab University Department of Applied Psychology on Wednesday organised Mehfil-e-Milad in connection with Eid Miladun Nabi (PBUH) in the seminar room of the department. According to a press statement, Department Chairperson Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausar, faculty, staff and a large number of students were present. The faculty members stressed the need to follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to get success in life and hereafter.

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Art festival at GCU
Lahore: The Horticulture Society of GCU on Wednesday organized Environment Art Festival 2012 to bring nature and environment to public attention. A press release said 60 teams from 18 educational intuitions including Kind Edward Medical University, Kinnaird College and Queen Marry College participated in the dry flower, recycling, poster and shirt competitions of the festival. The news

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KMU helping to meet teachers' shortage
Peshawar: The Khyber Medical University has been offering courses to doctors in subjects of basic sciences with a view to do away with the shortage of teachers in medical colleges of the province, says vice-chancellor Prof Mohammad Hafizullah.

Addressing media people on Tuesday, he said the KMU was making efforts to strengthen medical institutions. Since its establishment five years ago, the KMU had streamlined medical education system while now focus was being laid on establishment
of research institutes, he said.

He informed that there were only three constituent institutes under the university when he took over as vice-chancellor and the number had now doubled under his supervision. He was of the opinion that it was for the first time in the province that they had started producing doctors in physiotherapy from the well-equipped lone Institute of Physiotherapy of the province under the university where they had got the highest merit.

The establishment of the institute of basic science was a major achievement of the university, according to Hafizullah, which was established with the support of Higher Education Commission. The institute offers master's in health research, two-year M.Phil and four-year PhD programmes, he said.

He added that well-qualified staff had been hired from across the country and even abroad to make the project a success. "We have also sent 20 medical graduates for pursuance of their PhDs abroad. On their return the KMU would get the best faculty than any other medical university in the country," he maintained.

The vice-chancellor said after having enough faculties for M.Phil and PhD courses, they would ask medical colleges to start M.Phil programme. Dawn

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'Academic syllabi contain gender discrimination, religious bias'
Lahore: The Pakistani education system was criticised by experts during a conference on Wednesday, who said that academic syllabus was made by bureaucrats rather than educationists due to which syllabi included gender discrimination, religious bias and class discrimination, hence, causing disorder among various segments of society.

The issue was discussed at an education conference organised by Chanan Development Association (CDA) under National Social Action Project (NSAP), and hosted by Beaconhouse National University (BNU).

The speakers demanded free education for children between five and 16 years of age as mentioned in Article 25-A of the constitution. They said that access to education was the fundamental right of every child. They said the students, teachers, parents and civil society organisations had to work in collaboration to increase literacy rate. Daily times

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