PU entrance test and admission schedule

PU finalises entrance test schedule
Lahore, June 30: The Punjab University Admission Committee on Tuesday finalised schedule for entrance test and admission to four-year BS (Honours) programme and two-year MA/MSc morning and evening programmes 2010.

The committee has fixed July 22 as the last date for submission of entrance test forms for admission to MA/MSc programmes and Aug 16 for BS (Honours) programme. All entrance tests will be conducted by the departments concerned.

Advertisements for entrance tests and admissions to BS (Honours) programme and MA/MSc programmes will be published in newspapers well ahead of time, for information of the general public.

The admission committee meeting chaired by vice-chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran decided that entrance tests would be conducted for certain departments/programmes before the declaration of FA/FSc and BA/BSc results, which were likely to be declared on Sept 4 and Aug 15 next, respectively.

The VC directed the teaching departments concerned to ensure timely setting up of their respective admission cells along with all required facilities, including staff and furniture, entrance test forms together with relevant data, as well as making suitable arrangements for conducting the tests.

Results: The PU on Tuesday declared the results of BBA (Honours) final year annual examination for 2009. The pass percentage in the examination stood at 85.71. Dawn

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BS (Hons) starts from September
Lahore: Higher Education Secretary Ahad Cheema has underlined importance of BS (Hons) four-year programme at a consultative meeting attended by vice-chancellors of public sector universities in the Punjab and the principals of 26 colleges where the programme will be launched from September next.

More details of the programme were spelt out at the meeting which would be launched during September simultaneously in 26 colleges and in all major subjects taught at the graduate and postgraduate level in these colleges.

The principals have been advised to make necessary arrangements including preparation of course outline in different subjects, time tables, semester-wise studies, credit hours, examination and preparation of result etc. As a whole the BS programmes will be compatible with the BS (Hons) programme in universities.

The principals have also been asked to furnish details of available facilities including the IT labs, science labs, libraries and human resources viz-a-viz faculty members and details of their learning. The principals will be allowed to revamp and strengthen the faculty to run the BS programme whose main objective is to improve quality of education.

The Punjab Education Department has allowed vice-chancellors of autonomous universities other than the Punjab University to grant affiliation to the colleges wherever they like. However, in case of affiliation with a particular varsity, the colleges will be bound to abide by the rules sand regulations of that university which will also supervise the study as the students will get degree of the same university. In this connection, Government College University, Lahore College for Women University and Gujrat University are being named to function as affiliation granting universities. The colleges will have to follow the course outline suggested by the Board of Studies (BoS) of respective universities.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) have lodged a strong protest against the changing status of colleges under BS programme to be controlled by the BoGs. The PPLA maintained that instead of introducing a new programme, the existing system of education should have been strengthened by providing faculty and missing facilities. The new system is project-based funded by the donors and it may or may not prove a success. In case of failure, the college education would suffer a colossal loss, the PPLA added. The nation

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Tevta forms recruitment policya
Lahore: The Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) has laid down its recruitment policy to appoint new teaching, non-teaching staff at the TEVTA Secretariat, zonal and district offices and its institutes across the province.

According to a TEVTA spokesman, the recruitment policy is based on the distribution of 100 marks for the recruitment. For the post of BPS 5 and above, educational qualification has 60 percent marks, additional/technical qualification 12 pc marks, computer literacy 12 pc marks, additional relevant experience 11 pc marks and interview only 5 pc marks.

The core objective of the policy is to establish a rational and merit based system for recruitment of employees at all institutes across the Punjab province working under the TEVTA. The policy has been formulated by the Authority with Saeed Ahmad Alvi in the chair on the special instructions of Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif. It will facilitate the recruitment of deserving people.

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Autonomy to colleges flayed
Lahore: Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Liaquat Baloch has slated a decision of the Punjab government to give autonomous status to 26 colleges and allowing 40 per cent fee raise in different education boards.

He termed it highly harmful for growth of education.

In a statement on Tuesday, he said this was like closing the doors of education on poor and middle class students. He demanded immediate withdrawal of these decisions and grant of adequate funds to the education boards.

He said these decisions contradicted Punjab government's claims of being education-friendly. He said the Punjab chief minister had some time back announced abolition of different fee structures of education boards in the province which was welcomed but now it appeared that was mere a tactic to gain political mileage.

He said autonomy to colleges meant privatisation of education. The JI leader said it was due to such policies of the government that the standard of education was declining in the country. He said that teachers and students had taken to roads against these decisions. The news

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UVAS panel okays 46 seats for Afghans
Lahore: The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Academic Council on Tuesday approved creation of 46 seats for postgraduate and undergraduate students under category of "Afghan Students" for the upcoming academic session 2010-11.

The academic council meeting chaired by UVAS vice-chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Nawaz was attended by fisheries director-general Dr Muhammad Ayub, UVAS registrar Dr Kamran Ashraf, as well as faculties' deans, institutes' directors, departments' chairmen and the principal of Veterinary College, Jhang.

According to the decision, as many as 23 seats have been created for undergraduate students. According to bifurcation, five seats have been allocated for BS (Honours) dairy technology; four each for BS (Honours) bio-technology & informatics and BS (Honours) fisheries & aquaculture; three each for Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and BS (Honours) poultry sciences; and two seats for Pharm–D discipline.

The council created 17 seats for M.Phil students – poultry production (four seats); molecular biology & technology (three); animal nutrition, food nutrition, dairy technology, wildlife & ecology, and fisheries & aquaculture (two seats each).

The council also reserved six seats for PhD students in various departments including animal nutrition, food & nutrition, dairy technology, fisheries and aquaculture, wildlife & ecology and molecular biology & technology.

A university spokesman says at least 28,000 Afghan students have graduated from Pakistani universities during the last three decades, while almost 6,000 Afghan students are currently enrolled with Pakistani higher educational institutions. He says some 500,000 Afghan refugee children are attending schools in Pakistan.

He says Pakistan is offering 2,000 fully-funded graduate and postgraduate scholarships to Afghan students for pursuing higher education over a period of five years in various disciplines of study. He says the education ministry has already initiated a scholarship scheme last year only for 1,000 Afghan students. As per the direction of Higher Education Commission, the UVAS has decided to reserve seats under the scheme "Award of 2,000 scholarships for Afghan nationals" in this regard.

The council also decided to increase 50 seats in Pharm-D morning programme, duration of practical credit hour and semester sequels in different disciplines.

The council also appointed Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf and Prof Dr Masroor Elahi Babar as members of finance and planning committee.

Later, VC Prof Nawaz said the university administration was making all-out efforts to improve the academic standards and hoped that the academic council's decisions would benefit varsity's interests. Dawn

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Teacher acquitted in terror case
Lahore: A division bench of Lahore High Court on Tuesday set aside five-year conviction awarded to a school teacher by an anti-terrorism court and acquitted him in charges of training students for terrorism activities.

An anti terrorism court of Sargodha had convicted Muhammad Rafique, a government school teacher in Khushab, awarding him five years imprisonment and Rs 50,000 fine.

Prosecution had alleged that Muhammad Rafique had set up a private religious madrassa where he used to train students for terrorism activities.

The convict through his counsel pleaded that he was involved in a fake case by his rivals. He said the prosecution could not produce any cogent evidence against him and also failed to prove his link to any defunct organization. He said the madrassa accused of running terrorist activities was still functional and no such activity could be proved against it. The news

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PEF starts doling out free libraries to partner schools
Lahore: The Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) has started doling out free libraries to its more than 1,800 partner schools situated in different districts of the province to heave the intellectual ken of the students with economically deprived background.

This was stated by Chairman Punjab Education Foundation Raja Muhammad Anwar while giving books to the partner schools management at his office here on Tuesday.

He told that these books had been provided by noted German organisation Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) as a gift to students of PEF partner schools in the province. Each library, given to schools, is worth about Rs50, 000. The books, including wider subjects like art, culture, science, mathematics, literature, religion, English and humanities, are carefully chosen to help foster students emphatic understanding of worldview and to pervade a cosmopolitan understanding in the younger generation so that they could emerge as better citizens of the society.

Raja Anwar also thanked the German Government for their valuable gift and hoped that it would enable the students to absorb the necessary dimension of life. He announced to introduce compulsory Library Period on weekly basis in partner schools to augment students' understanding of life, he hoped.

The function was also addressed by the partner schools management who thanked the PEF for providing free books to their schools. The nation

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Computer classes for the blind
Lahore: The Lahore Businessmen Association for the Rehabilitation of Disabled (LABARD) has started computer classes for the blind at its Shadman Training Centre that would enable them to get jobs and prosper as normal members of society.

As a first step, 15 students have been selected who would be imparted computer software training by Salman Khalid who is also blind but an expert trainer.

LABARD President and Member National Assembly Muhammad Pervez Malik said though the disabled in Pakistan were facing various challenges but they could become a useful citizen by utilising their God-gifted additional abilities. He vowed that the LABARD would not only provide the computer training to the blind but would also ensure jobs to the successful students on completion of their training.

He said that all LABARD services were free for all disabled persons, including the blind, living in and around Lahore. He said computer software classes for the blind were actually an addition to the LABARD services. The LABARD is already providing training, education, medical assistance, artificial limbs and employment to the disables.

Malik said that the LABARD would continue to establish camps for the disabled in various parts of the city for creating awareness among these less-privileged members of society as a large number of disabled persons even today were unaware of the free-of-cost services being provided by the LABARD. The news

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KMU to have herbal medicines centre
Peshawar: The Khyber Medical University has decided to establish a centre for research on herbal medicines, for which Rs30 million have been provided by the Senator of Awami National Party, Haji Mohammad Adeel.

A meeting of KMU Senate, held here on Tuesday with Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani in the chair, was told that the new centre would be named after Adeel's father late Hakim Abdul Jalil Nadvi.

The governor asked the KMU to go ahead with its vision 2015 development plans both in respect of its academic and research studies as well as construction of infrastructural facilities.

The establishment of Pakistan Research Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology and Research Institute of Hepatology and Lever Transplant are the most prominent targets of the plan as its constituent institution in this respect will also have a 100-bed specialised hospital and research centre. The hospital and research centre would be completed with a cost of Rs600 million, said a handout.

"This is an institution of great importance to provide better health facilities to the people and there is a need to extend every possible financial support for its future development," the governor said.

The meeting besides Secretary to Governor Sikandar Qayyum, Secretary Health Dr Suhail Altaf, Special Secretary Establishment Farid Qureshi and other officials concerned was also attended by MPA Dr Faiza Bibi and KMU Vice-chancellor Prof Mohammad Hafizullah.

The meeting noted with appreciation that the university, apart from all the public sector medical colleges also allowed its affiliation to certain private medical colleges.

The meeting also approved fresh inductions in the academic council as well as appointments against senior faculty and administrative slots; actual budget for the year 2009-2010 and the budgetary estimates for the year 2010-2011.

The meeting was informed that almost 20 scholars were already engaged in their MPhil studies, leading to PhD degrees under the aegis of the university. Dawn

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