Higher education: Battagram to get HU campus soon

Campus to initially offer only three departments

MANSEHRA: There is some good news for students seeking higher education in Battagram. Hazara University is planning to set up a campus in the area ‘soon’.

Initially, the campus would only have three departments for students of the district. At a high-level meeting of HU on Thursday, chaired by HU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Muhammad Idrees, they discussed in detail the arrangements for the proposed campus and in line with instructions from Higher Education Commission.

University officials including Planning and Development Director Dr Awal Zaman, Registrar Dr Manzoor Hussain Shah, Battagram Campus Coordinator Commander Mehmood Khan and other departmental heads proposed recommendations for the new campus which would be presented to the provincial government for final approval and for the commencement of classes.

Dr Idrees said that the new campus would initially have departments of Management Sciences, Education and Information Technology. Further departments would be added to the campus over time. The meeting also discussed the issues of possession of the new campus building, classrooms, hostel and other facilities such as security arrangements. The VC asked to submit a detailed report to the HEC about the meeting so that process of opening of campus could be expedited.

Dr Idrees shared that the new campus, he believed, could later be converted into fully fledged university serving the education needs of residents of Battagram, Torghar, Kohistan and Shangla districts.

Hazara University previously had three campuses, one each in Haripur and Havelian and the main campus in Mansehra. The Haripur campus had been upgraded to become the University of Haripur while the Havelian Campus was converted into the Abbottabad University of Science and Technology in 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2017.