Scholarships for Pakistani students

Proposal to increase USAID scholarships to 5,000
Lahore, Jan 26: Education Commission Chairman Dr Javaid R Leghari has said that the commission has submitted a proposal to increase the number of scholarships from 1,000 to 5,000 with the support of the USAID.

He stated this during his visit to the University of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) here on Monday. He said the UVAS had become a centre of excellence, adding that it should act as a lead centre for the setting up new universities.

The HEC chairman asked the UVAS to offer its expertise for setting up more veterinary and animal sciences universities in other provinces which were necessary to tap the resources in the livestock and dairy development and agriculture sectors.

Dr Leghari said the universities' faculty must go for research and translate it into market economy instead of fulfilling the requirements of promotions and strengthening their curriculum vitae. He said the HEC would continue focusing on imparting quality education as well as producing quality faculty in universities.

UVAS Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz said his university would provide technical support for the setting up new universities. He said the UVAS was working for developing innovative technologies for strengthening national economy with the private sector's cooperation.

The VC said the university had transformed its teaching and assessment methods and research. He said the UVAS had triggered enormous faculty growth within three years and added that the number of faculty had increased from 77 to 226, while the number of PhDs faculty was increased from 23 to 77, and 97 faculty members were seeking higher education.

Dr Nawaz said he gave incentives to the faculty members who helped produce research papers published in journals whose number was one in 2006, 45 in 2007-08 and 72 in 2008-09. He said the university had developed kits to detect milk adulteration, molecular characterisation of Nili, Ravi and Nili Ravi buffalo breeds. He said the university was developing training and research centre for livestock marketing and developing dairy platform.

UVAS Vice-Chancellor under an MOU had been signed with a private firm which would provide the machinery worth Rs 50.5 millions to the UVAS Ravi Campus, Pattoki.

Ms Palwasha Khan, MNA, also attended the presentation given. Dean FVS, Prof Dr Muhammad Nasim, Dean FAP&T Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, Dean Faculty of Bio Sciences Prof Dr Ijaz Ahmad, Dean FLSMB Prof Dr Muhammad Aleem, Dean FF&W Prof Dr Naureen Aziz Qureshi and UVAS Registrar Dr Kamran Ashraf also attended the presentation. Later, Dr Javed also visited the teaching departments of the UVAS.

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PU announces LLB part-III results
Lahore: Punjab University has declared the result of the LLB Part-III Annual Examination, 2009. According to a press statement, 2,426 candidates had appeared in the exam and 1,006 were declared successful with pass percentage of 41.43. Detailed result is available at the PU website www.pu.edu.pk

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ISCS building at PU
Lahore: Newly-constructed building of Institute of Social & Cultural Studies (ISCS), costing Rs 23 million, was inaugurated at Punjab University (PU) New Campus on Monday.

Speaking as chief guest on the occasion, PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said high quality research activities was being given priority in the varsity to raise its academic and research standard to the international level.

He said this would prepare students for rewarding careers in the globally competitive market.

He further said the present PU administration was well aware of the importance of social sciences, arts and humanities and so was focusing on the promotion of these faculties besides expanding academic and research pursuits in other Departments.

He said the students should apply for local PhD programmes or in foreign countries; otherwise, their careers would not move forward.

Earlier, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Jamil Anwar Chaudhry said the worth of universities was not measured in terms of buildings or number of students. He said they acted as think-tank where knowledge was created and implemented and their strength was based on research work.

ISCS Director Dr Muhammad Hafeez said the role of social and cultural studies had become vitally important in the backdrop of our current deteriorating social conditions and problems besides other societal issues.

Dean Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences Prof Dr Mughees ud Din Sheikh and Dr Zakriya Zakir also spoke at the function. Registrar Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan and heads of other departments were also present.

Later, Punjab University's Institute of Communication Studies (ICS) on Monday organised a reference in memory of renowned columnist late Irshad Ahmad Haqqani.

A number of journalists and scholars attended the ceremony and paid tributes to Irshad Ahmad Haqqani for his services in the field of journalism.

Intellectual Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami said Irshad Ahmad Haqqani was a great journalist, adding that the journalist community would always remember his noble services.

GEO TV Network Lahore Bureau Chief Khawar Naeem Hashmi said Irshad Ahmad Haqqani was an honest man and a very professional journalist. Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences Dean Prof Dr Mughees Uddin Sheikh and ICS Director Dr Ahsan Akhtar Naz said Irshad Ahmad Haqqani was a professional journalist.

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Vocational education being modernised
Lahore: The CM has said that a network of vocational institutions is being laid in the province for imparting various skills to the youth and generation of job opportunities and all out resources are being utilized for this purpose.

The CM was presiding over a meeting on promotion of technical education held on Monday. He said that future of the country was linked to education, especially vocational education; therefore, maximum attention was being paid to the promotion of technical education. He said that TEVTA had been reorganised and made an autonomous and vibrant institution while courses of vocational education were also being modernised.

The meeting also reviewed the priorities of TEVTA regarding promotion of vocational education. The Chief Minister said that a comprehensive programme is being implemented for rapid progress of the province and imparting various skills to the youth.

He said that the traditional and obsolete system of vocational education was being modernized.

He said that a comprehensive strategy has been adopted for modernizing technical education, capacity building of vocational institutions and training of youth in accordance with the market needs.

He directed that special attention be paid to the purchase of modern machinery and training of teachers while foreign institutions of vocational education such as GTZ should also be consulted for this purpose.

The CM said that international certification was of key importance in vocational education and special attention should be paid in this direction so that youth could play their due role in various sectors in the country as well as earn foreign exchange from abroad.

He said that all out resources would be provided for the promotion of vocational education and now it is the responsibility of the TEVTA to build the capacity of technical institutions as well as deliver the desired results.

He directed the TEVTA chairman to evolve and submit a roadmap for the promotion of vocational education within next few days. He said that TEVTA has been given the target of training one lakh children each year in various skills.

The TEVTA chairman gave a detailed briefing regarding vocational training, modernizing the syllabus and consultation with foreign experts. The news

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UAF unified farm research
Faisalabad: Speakers at a workshop stressed the need for effective coordination among agricultural universities, research institutes and extension departments to cope with the growing food and fiber needs of the country's population.

The workshop, "Development of unified agricultural research system comprising education, research and extension," was organised by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) at New Senate Hall on Monday.

Addressing the participants, former National Assembly speaker Syed Fakhar Imam said the parliament had a majority of the farmers but they had failed to formulate a comprehensive agricultural policy.

He said agriculture would remain a driving force with multiple challenges which could only be addressed through adoption of an integrated approach by all stakeholders.

Expressing his dismay over the declining trends in all developmental indicators, he said agriculture sector required an effective collaboration among education, research and extension services which, at present, were operating under different departments.

'Unfortunately, Pakistani universities are not being used by the industry whereas European Union has formed a unified agricultural policy with the help of the varsities.'

UAF Vice-Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad lauded the efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for constituting a committee for evolving a unified agricultural research system comprising education, research and extension. He said in Pakistan, Lyalpur Model of education, research and extension was disintegrated in early sixties but the same model produced commendable results in India where 45 universities were operating under it.

Dr Ahmed called for massive investment in research, integration of agricultural triangle and capacity building in a new and innovative way.

Former UAF vice-chancellor Dr Amir Muhammad underlined the need for conducting comparative studies of various crops with regard to other countries like India and Egypt to find out weaknesses and strengths of the country's agriculture.

Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik sought sufficient operational funds for all agricultural research organisations. He proposed bringing all officials of research and extension wings under one roof by setting up a faculty of agricultural research and extension at the UAF.

Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, VC Dr Khalid Mehmood underlined the need for changing the mindset of all stakeholders.

Food and Agriculture Planning Commission of Pakistan Member Dr Muhammad Ehsan said new challenges needed new strategies which required new institutions to compete with the existing ones.

Dr Mubarik Ali, rice exporter Syed Faisal Hasan, Dr Noorul Islam Khan from Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, and others also spoke on the occasion. Dawn

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U-17 debate finals
Lahore: Lahore Grammar School (LGS) 55-Main Gulberg won the 3rd Sonnu Rahman All Pakistan Under-17 Annual Debating Championship 2010 held at Salamat International Campus for Advance Studies (SICAS) on Monday.

The final was between LGS and Salamat School Girls Branch. The topic was 'This house believes that Kashmir, and not cross border terrorism, is the core issue between Pakistan and India'.

LGS won the trophy in a competition in which 36 teams from 27 institutions of the country were participating. The team comprised Osheen Fatima, Mehar Habib, Anousheh Chughtai and Touba Ahmed, while the Salamat Girls team comprised Sara Khan, Sarah Mirza and Hamna Khan. A huge crowd of students and faculty members were present on this occasion.

Former president of Debating Society of Pakistan (DSP), Sonnu Rahman, was the chief guest of the ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, Sonnu Rahman said that parliamentary debating competitions are very important for students as they help them develop their general knowledge as well as tolerance.

Schools from Karachi, Faisalabad, Islamabad and Lahore, including Lahore College of Arts and Sciences (LACAS), Beaconhouse School System, The City School, Lahore Alma, LGS, Aitchison College, Karachi Grammar School (KGS), Little Angels Faisalabad (LAF) and LGS Islamabad, were among the participants of the event, in which a number of rounds of parliamentary debating style were held. Daily times

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