Higher education: UAF to set up sub-campus in Okara

Vice chancellor says the sub campus will be built by 2017.

FAISALABAD: University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) would set up a sub-campus in Depalpur, Okara, Vice Chancellor Prof Iqrar Ahmad Khan said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a ceremony arranged in connection with the establishment of the new campus. MNA Ajmal Khan was the chief guest.

The vice chancellor said the campus would be built by 2017. He said the government had provided 77 acres and allocated Rs500 million for the project. The remaining funds would be provided by the Higher Education Commission, he said.

He said the UAF had previously set up campuses in other cities. He said the University of Veterinary and Animals Sciences, Lahore, the Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpinid, and Ghazi University in Dera Ghazi Khan had been sub-campuses of the UAF. The vice chancellor said he hoped that the UAF’s Toba Tek Singh, Burewala and Depalpur sub-campuses would, too, be made autonomous universities. He said Okara produced 25 per cent of the country’s potatoes.

“Okara has high agricultural productivity due to the highly skilled farming community there.”

He said he hoped that the proposed campus would help bridge the gap between modern farming and the ongoing agricultural practices.

Ajmal Khan said UAF’s Okara campus would provide locals with modern agriculture education.

He said students of the area would no longer have to move to other cities for higher education.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2015.