Nobel prize 2009 for economics

First woman win Nobel Economics Prize
Stockholm, Oct 13: Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for research seen as highly topical in the wake of the economic crisis and amid efforts to tackle climate change.

Fellow US economist Oliver Williamson shared the 10-million-kronor ($1.42-million) prize with Ms Ostrom, whose name has circulated for years as a possible winner.

Ms Ostrom told Swedish television her first reaction was "great surprise and appreciation" and said she was "in shock" at being the first woman to clinch the honour.Ms Ostrom describes herself as a political scientist instead of an economist and is a professor at Indiana University, where she researches the management of common property or property under common control, such as natural resources.

Her work challenged the notion that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatised, the jury said.

"If we want to halt the degradation of our natural environment and prevent a repetition of the many collapses of natural-resource stocks experienced in the past, we should learn from the successes and failures of common-property regimes," it said.

Mr Williamson, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, was honoured with the other half of the prize "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm."

He has studied the existence of large firms and argued that hierarchical organisations represent alternative governance structures which differ in their approaches to resolving conflicts of interest.

"According to Williamson's theory, large private corporations exist primarily because they are efficient.... When corporations fail to deliver efficiency gains, their existence will be called in question," the jury said.

Landis Gabel, a senior economics and management professor at top French business school INSEAD and who studied under Prof Williamson in the 1970s, said the choice of Prof Williamson and Ms Ostrom was 'timely'. -AFP

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Punjab University campaign to increase PhD teachers
Lahore: As part of the Punjab University campaign to increase number of quality PhD teachers, Vice Chancellor Dr Mujahid Kamran on Monday called a meeting of the non-PhD lecturers and assistant professors of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

The meeting also discussed that some teachers were facing visa problems after their admission to the universities of the United Kingdom and decided that a letter from the VC office would be sent to the Foreign Office and UK Embassy to expedite the visa cases of PU teachers.

The VC motivated the teachers to get admission to foreign varsities as soon as possible. He told the young teachers that Rs 65 million had been allocated for the Faculty Development Programme and if required, this amount would be increased up to Rs 80 million. He said non-PhD teachers should get benefit from this opportunity and besides this they should also apply for foreign scholarships and the Higher Education Commission scholarships. Dr Mujahid Kamran said out of total 775 regular and contract teachers only 250 were PhDs with a 32 percentage, adding that PU was striving to increase this number.

He urged the teachers to get admission to the varsities of China, Germany, Malaysia, Russia, Sweden and other countries where higher education was comparatively less expensive as compared to the US and the UK.

He said special attention was also being given towards strengthening of the local PhD programme. The teachers currently doing PhDs in the PU were offered that they under split programme with foreign varsities might do their research in foreign varsities where research work closely related to their subject was in progress.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr Jamil Anwar Ch and Controller Examinations Dr Zahid Karim Khan also motivated the young teachers and ensured their all-out cooperation in this regard. Over 40 teachers from both the faculties attended the meeting.

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Good result in Mass Com exams
Lahore: The Mass Communication Department of Government MAO College produced good results in Mass Communication Part-I Examinations 2008-10 organized by the Punjab University. A press release said Aiza Nawaz of the department secured 368 marks out of total 500; similarly Sabahat Butt secured 365 marks while Adnan Ahmed Khan secured 363 marks.

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PU orientation
Lahore: Annual orientation ceremony for the new students of BCom and MCom of the Punjab University (PU) Hailey College of Commerce was held on Monday. PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran urged the students to develop reading habits and become subject specialists in their areas of interests. He also said instead of negative competition, there should be healthy and positive competition among the students.

The VC said it was a matter of proud that many graduates of PU College of Commerce were serving at key positions in foreign and national financial institutions. The college principal, Dr Liaquat Ali, said, "Training was a very compulsory part of education system and we at Hailey College try to give proper training to our students."

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PU wins contest
Lahore: The Punjab University has won the All Pakistan Bilingual Declamation Contest organised by the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Taxila, from October 10-11, 2009. According to a press statement issued on Monday, PU College of Pharmacy student Syed Sahmaoon Ahmad and Institute of Communication Studies student Touseef Ahmad Sabih participated in English and Urdu categories respectively and clinched first positions. Moreover, both the students were also declared the best speakers in English and Urdu as well. The news

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