‘Govt making efforts to raise higher education standards’

Governor says incumbent govt never allowed political interference in universities

LAHORE: It was a historic achievement that the Punjab University (PU) produced 243 PhDs in one year, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar. “The Punjab government was extending maximum support to bring universities of the province among top 500 institutions of the world.”

He expressed these views while addressing the 129th convocation of PU at Faisal Auditorium on Saturday.

European Parliament’s Vice President Fabio Massimo Castaldo was also an awarded Honorary PhD degree in the subject of Law by the varsity.

PU Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Niaz Ahmad, Pro VC Dr Muhammad Saleem Mazhar, Registrar Dr Muhammad Khalid Khan, Controller of Examinations Rauf Nawaz, Additional Controller of Examinations Raja Shahid Javed, deans, faculty members and a large number of graduates and their parents participated in the event.

The governor highlighted that the incumbent government had ended the culture of ad hoc appointments from universities. “Around 20 vice chancellors had been appointed so far on merit for making institutions of higher learning fully functional.”

The incumbent government never allowed political interference in the universities, he further said. Addressing the ceremony, Massimo said that the world community should stand with the people of Kashmir and Palestine who were facing atrocities. “The future of the world was associated with education. It could prevent wars and produce tolerant people.”

The VC said that PU administration had implemented policy of merit, transparency and accountability in all the operations of the university. He added that the administration had activated all statutory bodies and their meetings were being held regularly.  

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2019.