Sindh University protests and exams

6,500 stopped from taking viva voce exams
Hyderabad, Jan 24: Approximately 6,500 candidates could not appear for viva voce examinations on Monday at the Sindh University because of the protest by teachers, since last 21 days, over the murder of Prof Basheer Ahmed Channar.

MA regular and external candidates made their way here from the colleges in different parts of the province affiliated with the university.

A large number of university employees supporting the teachers took out a rally from the Central Library and marched on campus roads while the environment kept reverberating with the voices demanding "remove vice- chancellor, save university" and "arrest murderers of Prof Channar." Later a sit-in of over two hours was also staged by them.

A heavy contingent of police and Rangers was deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

Leaders of protesting teachers Asghar Burfat, Ishaque Samejo, Prof Badar Soomro and Prof Amar Sindhu demanded of the vice- chancellor to tender his resignation in the interest of the university as it was a unanimous demand of 500 teachers and thousands of employees.

They questioned the rationale of the government in keeping a mum over the whole issue. They assured the students and parents that they would hold extra classes to make up for the lost time once their demands were accepted.

They branded the vice-chancellor as the enemy of education and demanded de-weaponisation at campus to let students gain their academic pursuits in peace, and teachers and employees, their duties without fear.

The university administration in a statement issued on Monday announced postponement of viva voce examinations of MA Final students.

It said that some agitating teachers forcibly closed the main entrances of the buildings of Sindh Development Study Centre, Pakistan Study Centre and Area Study Centre Far East and South East Asia and stopped the candidates from appearing in viva voce examinations, although senior teachers engaged in conducting the examinations tried to convince the agitating teachers but to no avail.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Parveen Shah immediately called a teachers meeting which decided postponement of the viva voce examinations to prevent situation getting out of control, it said adding a new date will be announced later. Dawn

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KU, Bahawalpur varsity sign research accord
Karachi: Karachi University's International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB) to promote and develop academic and research cooperation in various fields of sciences between the institutions.

The MoU was signed by the director of the ICCBS, Prof (Dr) M. Iqbal Choudhary, and the IUB vice chancellor, Prof (Dr) Muhammad Mukhtar, on behalf of their respective institutions.

A spokesperson for the ICCBS said that the MoU signed in Bahawalpur recently was aimed at setting up of a joint collaborative research programme at the ICCBS and the IUB in the field of medicinal chemistry and biotechnology.

Besides, both the institutions could undertake joint research projects in the fields of basic chemical and biochemical sciences to address scientific, health and industrial problems of local, regional, national and international significance, the spokesperson added.

Both the institutions under the accord had also agreed to enhance relations between the two institutions and develop academic exchange in the areas of education and research, he said.

It had also been decided that team members would be identified to work on joint research projects while there would be annual bi-institutional meeting in the form of workshop/ seminar and conference that would be organised jointly by both the institutions, he added.

Highlighting the salient features of the MoU, he said that the collaborative activities included faculty and research staff exchanges, foreign study programmes and collaborative research programmes, including the exchange of voucher samples, and natural product extracts; joint seminars, workshops, and service programmes.

Each of the two institutions would be responsible for seeking funds to support their involvement in the cooperative activities under the agreement, and all such activities would depend upon the budgetary appropriations of both the parties, he added.

He said that the agreement would be for a period of five years from the date of its implementation and it could be extended with mutual consent in writing by both institutions, but it could be terminated by either party giving 30 days written notice to the other party.

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BDS exams
The controller of examinations of Karachi University announced on Monday that BDS (third professional) annual examinations-2012 would begin on Jan 31 at the KU Centre of Excellence in Women's Studies.

Timings of the papers: general medicine, general surgery, oral pathology and oral medicine scheduled for Jan 31, Feb 2, Feb 7 and Feb 9, respectively, would be held from 2pm to 5pm, the official added. Dawn

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Karachi varsity declares DTCD exam results
Karachi: University of Karachi has declared the result of Post Graduate Diploma in Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases (DTCD) Annual Examinations 2011. As per statistics of the result, 14 candidates were registered, 13 appeared, while eight students were declared as pass. The pass percentage remained 61.54 percent. Daily times

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Three caught using unfair means in exams
Karachi: At least three cases of use of unfair means, including impersonation, were detected during the annual degree examinations (BCom external) at Karachi University on Monday, according to the deputy controller examinations.

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Another four-year term for UET VC
Peshawar: Securing another four-year term as vice-chancellor of the University of Engineering and Technology, Imtiaz Hussain Gillani would become the longest serving head of any public sector varsity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"In exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Section 10 (I) of the University of Engineering and Technology Ordinance 1980, the governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/chancellor UET has been pleased to reappoint Engr Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gillani as Vice-Chancellor UET for a period of 4 years w.e.f. 28th, January, 2012," stated a notification issued by the secretary, Higher Education Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.

This is the fourth consecutive term as vice-chancellor of UET being given to Imtiaz Gillani. Initially, he was appointed as vice-chancellor for two years in January 2004 when Lt Gen (R) Iftikhar Hussain Shah was the governor/chancellor of the public sector universities in the province.

Lt Gen (R) Ali Mohammad Jan Orakzai gave him another two-year term to serve the university in January 2006, which was extended for four more years by the-then Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani.

Masood Kausar, the present governor, renewed his tenure for another four years, making him the longest serving vice-chancellor of any public sector university in the province. Before him, only Mohammad Ali remained vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar for eight consecutive years in 1960s.

Imtiaz Gillani did his BSc in Civil Engineering in 1968 from the Engineering College, University of Peshawar. He secured full scholarship for his master's in Structural Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, which he completed in 1971.

In the early 1970s, he moved to the US where he continued his studies along with a job. He did his Master's in Business Administration (Finance) from the Rutgers Business School, New Jersey in 1980, after which he returned to Pakistan and set up his own business.

During General Pervez Musharraf's rule, he served as provincial minister for education, information, sports and youth affairs for three years. Having done his bit at the engineering university, both on the academic and development sides, Imtiaz Gillani said his focus now was to get four percent of the GDP allocated for education at least in the provincial budget.

"Unless and until we are able to provide credible education at the public sector school level, we would be unable to overcome the issues we are faced with," he said. "It is the prime objective of my life to convince the policymakers at the provincial level to take lead in the country by allocating four percent of the GDP for education. Only then we would be able to overcome the burning issues," he said.

He also wants to establish a standard campus of the UET, Peshawar in Kohat on the directives of the governor. Three satellite campuses have already been established in Bannu, Abbottabad and Mardan under his administration. He intends to upgrade the Mardan campus to a separate full-fledged university.

The vice-chancellor also has plans to establish University of Technology on the land already acquired for a world-class university in Mamu Khatki area as part of the Higher Education Commission project, which could not materialise.

The UET has been short-listed along with the National University for Sciences and Technology (NUST) for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Energy. "We want to acquire this mega project funded by the HEC and USAID, for which we have completed our homework and hopefully we would be successful in getting it," he said.

The establishment of a Technology Park - an idea floated during the caretaker set-up in the province under Shamsul Mulk - is another aim of Imtiaz Gilani. "The Technology Park would be a place where the things in the minds of learned professors could be converted into marketable products. As soon as we get 100 acres land for the project, we would set up the park," he said. Completion of the UET Jalozai campus is also among his top priorities and work on it is underway.

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AIOU announces B.Ed results
Islamabad: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Monday announced the results of final examination of B.Ed programme for the Semester Spring 2011. According to the Controller of Examinations, result cards are being sent to students at their given addresses by post. He advised the students, who do not receive the result cards by end of this month, to contact the Examination Department in main campus of the university personally or at phone number-051-9057323 or contact the nearest regional office to duplicate result card. The controller said the students can also download their result from the website www.aiou.edu.pk of the university. The news

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