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Islamia College not ready for varsity status
PESHAWAR, Jan 09, 2008: The upgradation of Islamia College to the university
status is likely to create problems, sources say.
They said the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) had issued an NOC for the college's upgradation to
Islamia College University (ICU) and a draft law sent to the HEC for vetting is
likely to be approved. However, the college is yet to do homework for meeting
the requirements of becoming a university.
The Islamia College
established in the early 1950s was allotted 2,000 kanals of land. Of the total
land, 1,000 kanals are in its possession. Over the rest of the land, the
buildings housing University of Engineering and Technology and its hostels and
the Khyber Medical College and its hostels have been constructed.
The ICU
will be required to reclaim its land which is a gigantic task. The sources said
the government had established four universities over the past few years. Among
them was the Malakand University which is yet to commence MSc classes and
appoint a controller of examinations.
The sources said that the ICU,
which was approved by the former NWFP governor on Dec 3, 2007, would require the
services of faculty members, equipment, finance, etc., for which no preparations
have been made yet. Designing of new courses will be another difficult task for
the ICU administration.
On the other hand, the University of Peshawar is
opposed to the creation of ICU because it would lose a big piece of
land.
"There is no justification for another university at the UoP campus
which would be teaching the same subjects," Prof Arbab Khan, president of the
Peshawar University Teachers' Association (PUTA), said at a press conference
recently. The sources said that PUTA was opposing the plan because it would lose
25 seats in the college. Furthermore, the association would be deprived of 150
teachers who were at present its members.
Sources at the ICP alleged that
a step-motherly attitude of the UoP had compelled the college staff to struggle
for the upgradation. "We had launched postgraduate classes in English, Theology
and Botany in 1994, but the then UoP vice-chancellor stopped these in 2001. In
2005, we were allowed to start postgraduate classes in Chemistry and Statistics
only to be stopped by the UoP in 2007," they said. "The UoP wanted its monopoly
over postgraduate classes."
The sources said that although the ICU might
face problems at the initial stage, it had far better infrastructure than
Malakand, Hazara, Bannu and Kohat universities. Dawn
Your Comments
"ALTHOUGH THIS IS A DIFFICULT TASK AND INITIALLY IT WILL FACE PROBLEMS IN THE UPGRADATION PROCESS BUT IN FUTURE IT WILL ALSO FACE PROBLEMS IN UPGRADATION SO WHY NOT NOW WE FACE PROBLEMS AND TRY TO MAKE EASE FOR OUR COMING GENERATIONS BECAUSE THE UPGRADATION IS IMPORTANT FOR THE STUDENTS ALL OVER THE PROVINCE AS WELL AS COUNTRY. "
Name: UMAIR SHAH
Email: ZALMYSHAH2008@YAHOO.COM
City, Country: PESHAWAR, Pakistan
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