Punjab University ranked second best in Pakistan

HEC ranked PU second best after QAU
Lahore, July 30: The Higher Education Commission has ranked the Punjab University the second best varsity among general universities in the country in terms of research publications, faculty development, student strength and other factors. It is at the top in Lahore.

The Punjab University has scored 45.92 per cent marks allocated for research, students, facilities, finances and faculty, after the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, with a score of 58.16.

The Government College University is ranked sixth in general universities in the country and second in Lahore with 31.78 score. The Lahore College for Women University has been ranked 15th in the country and third among general universities in Lahore with 20.99 score.

The GCU had earlier stated that the HEC had ranked it the top university in terms of research output. However, the revised ranking of universities shows that the GCU, Lahore scored 6.44 out of 26 marks allocated for research, while the Punjab University scored 10.49 in the category.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Punjab University’s Executive Club on Thursday, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said he had kept his focus on research and creation of new knowledge in the institution. He said he had enhanced allocation for research from Rs8 million in 2007-08 to Rs50 million in 2008-09 and kept it at same volume during the 2009-10 financial year.

He said the university had a budget volume of Rs4.11 billion out of which it was generating 70 per cent revenue from its own resources. Despite financial cut this year, Prof Kamran said the university had decided to keep research allocation at Rs50 million during the financial year by slashing unnecessary expenditure.

Owing to this vision, he said, the PU had attained second position among general universities in the country. It bagged fourth and fifth positions in 2005-07 and 2007-08, respectively.

“Acquiring higher ranking has motivated the university faculty members as they have shown commitment to do research with more dedication,” he said.

Prof Kamran said the PU’s ranking would further improve if the HEC recognised its various research journals being produced with quality content. He said the university’s PhD programme had also been strengthened and he hoped that the consistency in this policy would help university achieve 90 per cent PhD faculty by 2020.

Answering a question about the stated preference to foreign PhDs compared with the local degree holders for the posts of vice-chancellors in various universities, Prof Kamran said this was a wrong attitude on the part of the Higher Education Department. He said the scholars doing their PhDs locally were required to send their theses and research papers abroad for evaluation.

About four-year BS (Honours) programme, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Jamil Anwar said the public-sector colleges lacked infrastructure and faculty to run the programme. He also told the media that the higher education secretary responded in the affirmative when he asked whether the subjects other than those being included in honours programme would be closed.

He said the semester system was earlier introduced in the late 70s but was disbanded for “not being feasible”. Prof Anwar said the university had decided that it would not offer affiliation to the six public-sector colleges attached to it unless they would develop the required level of infrastructure.

He said the matter of holding examinations and weightage of marks given to college and university teachers would also be discussed. He admitted that currently the higher education department had proposed 40 per cent weightage for college teachers and 60 per cent for the examination to be conducted by the university.

He said he had called a meeting of heads of respective departments on Friday (today) to discuss the issue of introduction of honours programme, while a meeting of attached colleges’ principals had been called on Saturday (tomorrow).

Answering a question, Prof Kamran agreed that the university would consider revising the semester examination system and recommend that more than one question-paper would be prepared. Dawn