Education matters: Dera Ghazi Khan University looking at new horizons

‘We want the financially deprived to have access to quality higher education’

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

The Dera Ghazi Khan University has set up a charity-based foundation to provide financially-deprived students, need-based scholarships that would help them continue their studies, Professor Muhammad Khaliq Ahmad, the newly appointed vice chancellor of Dera Ghazi Khan University, told The Express Tribune.

He said the university was looking to cater to the academic needs of students from a diverse range of backgrounds. The university had a quota for students from tribal areas, he said. Two seats would be allocated for these students every year.

“We want the poor and the financially deprived to have access to quality higher education,” he said. The Ghazi University Foundation will seek donations from affluent people in the country and abroad, he said.

The vice chancellor said the university had set up a technical training programme through mobile classrooms that will visit and train the youth in rural and tribal areas near Dera Ghazi Khan city. “They will be trained in a wide array of skills including basic computer skills.”

The university is planning to open several new departments, he said. In this regard, the Dera Ghazi Khan University, the Bahauddin Zakariya University and the Islamia University Bahawalpur – the three largest universities in south Punjab – will work towards academic and professional collaborations. He said that the Dera Ghazi Khan University had unique importance because it was situated in the Koh-i-Suleman Range.

Ahmad said that this “academic triangle” would help advance research and development and will work towards more progressive education reforms.

The Dera Ghazi Khan University will also establish knowledge centres which will help promote the varsity all over the world, he said. Another project on the cards was a students’ society for peace and justice. “We understand how the youth, especially from less financially and educationally privileged backgrounds can be drawn towards militancy and religious fundamentalism…we think the initiative to combat such ideas should stem from among the students…the Peace and Justice Society can help come up with innovative ideas to counter virulent narratives.”

He said in some cases, financial and educational deprivation could lead to social evils. “The university is looking to establish a code of conduct for varsity students and staff…everyone on campus will be required to abide by it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2016.