On court orders: BZU offers re-enrolment to Lahore campus students

Candidates can register for two options with the university till January 20

LAHORE: The Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) Multan has announced that students of the two remaining programmes of the closed sub-campus in Lahore can get themselves enrolled by choosing one of the two options as per the Lahore High Court directives.

The BZU Multan had notified students of the BZU Lahore to get themselves enrolled at Multan after the Lahore sub-campus was declared illegal.

The only students left without getting enrolled were of two programmes – BS Technology and Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT). These students were earlier told that they would be enrolled later. They would now be enrolled as per the court decision.

The varsity had given two options to the students of these two departments. The first is to register at University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore for DPT students and University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Lahore for BS Tech and continue their studies there. The second is the BZU’s decision to approve and start these programmes, which were being offered by the Lahore sub-campus only, and students can then get themselves enrolled at BZU Multan. However, those who would enrol at BZU Multan would have to start their studies afresh.

The university is expected to have the proposal of the two new programmes approved by the end of January in its syndicate meeting.

The university has issued a form for students of the DPT and BS Tech programmes on its websites and also advertised the decision in newspapers. The students have been told to register with the university till January 20 and can apply by submitting a demand draft of Rs1,000 in favour of the university.

“The enrolment process is already in progress for all the students concerned except for the DPT and B-Tech students,” a statement issued by the university read. The students were asked by the Higher Education Department to undertake the enrolment of the DPT and BS Tech students of the BZU sub-campus Lahore as well. Under the direction, this enrolment will be done in two modes and the students will be given choice for one of these modes.”

The varsity also laid out the conditions for students who would be considered for enrolment and stated: “Adoption of DPT and BS Tech at Multan will be subject to decision of the syndicate scheduled to be held at the end of this month. The students of the remaining disciplines who could not get themselves enrolled for continuing their studies at BZU main campus Multan may also apply for enrolment.”

In its decision on Monday, the court ordered the Punjab advocate general to present the original summary for allowing the establishment of BZU Lahore sub-campus. The court was told by the BZU Multan vice-chancellor that by January 23, the varsity would start classes for the students affected by the closure of the sub-campus and within a few days there would be an advertisement in newspapers.

The Lahore campus of BZU was established under public-private partnership in 2012. However, in 2015 the HEC declared the sub-campus illegal, saying it did not fulfil the minimum requirements set by the commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2017.