LAHORE: Teachers’ Front clinched two slots of members in the Punjab University Syndicate while one of the two remaining seats were won by the Teachers’ Front Founders and Academic Forum each in an election held at the varsity campus on Monday.
The PU syndicate elections were held for the faculty member’s seats to elect one teacher from each of the four cadres including professor, associate professor, assistant professor and lecturer. The Teachers’ Front, Teachers’ Front Founders Group, Academic Forum and Faculty Strengthening Forum fielded their candidates for the syndicate elections.
The Teachers’ Front candidates Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad and Dr Mahboob Husain won the seats of professor and associate professor simultaneously. Teachers’ Front Founders Group candidate Javed Sami secured the assistant professor seat while the lecturer seat was won by the Academic Forum candidate Abdul Majid Khan.
The members have been elected for a term of three years. The term of four representatives of faculty members on the seats of professor, associate professor, assistant professor and lecturer had expired in June 2017.
PU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Zakaria Zakar congratulated the newly-elected members of the Syndicate and the Academic Council. In a press statement, Dr Zakar expressed hope that the newly-elected members would play their role in improving the academic environment and research standards of the university.
Elections of the seven members of the Academic Council were also held simultaneously with the Syndicate elections. On the two seats of associate professors, Dr Shakeel Ahmed and Dr Saima Sadaf were elected. For assistant professors, Sonia Umar and Fiaz Firdousi were elected. While for the three seats of lecturers, Yumna Sadaf, Dr Imran and Dr Muhammad Islam were elected, four of the seven seats were secured by the Teachers’ Front.
The Academic Council serves as the academic body and is tasked with advising the Syndicate on all academic matters, including the laying down standards of instruction, research, publications, examinations and starting new programmes and departments. All professors of the university are, by default, members of the Academic Council.