Poor performance: Ghazi University’s agri faculty faces closure

HEC letter notes declining admissions, poor research.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

The Higher Education Commission has expressed concern over the performance of the Ghazi University Faculty of Agriculture and directed the university administration to immediately take steps to revamp it, The Express Tribune has learnt.

In a letter addressed to the vice chancellor, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, HEC Accreditation Director Nazeer Ahmad said the faculty had been placed in Category Y, indicating that the department was not meeting the minimum research requirements. He warned that if performance did not improve, the faculty could be shut down.

The director noted that the faculty had nearly 150 teachers and 100 other staff for some 450 students. He wrote that the department had an expenditure exceeding Rs100 million.



He noted that admissions to the college had been declining over three years. He noted that some 150 students had been admitted this year, adding to an existing student body of 350. The director pointed out that there were no enrolments in four specialties and two others had shut down.

He wrote that in 15 years, the department had produced no research on local agricultural practices and issues.

The director said the faculty had been equipped with latest laboratories and transport facilities were available yet there were no students to take advantage of these facilities.

He said since the Agriculture College had merged with Ghazi University, it had been embroiled in a number of problems. The director told the vice chancellor that if there was no marked improvement in the assessment next year, the faculty would be placed in Category Z and shut down.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Faculty of Agriculture Dean Dr Shaukat said, “We have indeed been warned by the HEC to improve performance.”

He said the faculty had been in Category Y for some time. He said several problems had arisen due to the merger with Ghazi University, which would soon be ironed out by the vice chancellor.

The Agriculture College was established in Dera Ghazi Khan as a campus of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in 1998. Some 1,300 students had graduated from the college in 15 years till merged with Ghazi University in June 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2015.