Punjab Minister for Higher Education Syed Raza Ali Gillani has said that the higher education department is facing a shortage of 7,000 lecturers and 5,000 PhDs across the province.
“In order to fill these seats without further wastage of time, the chief minister would be requested to make separate arrangements in the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). In order to fill the backlog, work on the Lahore Knowledge Park project is being done speedily so that Pakistani students could access high-quality research and educational facilities at subsidised rates,” Gillani said.
“International universities will also extend their cooperation for providing world-class education in this innovative park, which is the first of its kind. Meanwhile, it has also been decided to keep teacher-students ratios at 1:30 in higher education institutions so that teachers can adequately attend to the educational needs of every student,” the minister added.
The minister was addressing the oath taking ceremony of newly elected office bearers of the Lahore Education Reporters Association at the Arfa Karim Software Technology Park on Wednesday.
The function was organised in collaboration with Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC), whose chairman Dr M Nizamuddin attended the ceremony as the guest of honour. The students of the mass communication department of a local degree college also attended the ceremony and put up different questions to the minister. Raza Gillani said that a holistic approach had been adopted to enhance the quality of higher education in the province and added that several projects were underway to improve the capacity building of teachers.
“The PHEC wants our universities to act as engines of innovation and research in the ever-changing era of knowledge economy,” he added. “Faculty development institutions will be set up in five major cities of the province, including Lahore. Setting up similar training institutions at the district level would ensure that a continued process of development is initiated for improving the intellectual ken of the faculty,” Gillani said.
In reply to a question, he said that the PHEC had started inspection of private institutions that were failing to fulfil their charter requirements. “It has been decided to introduce a check and balance system so that no institution can defraud students,” he said.
PHEC Chairman Dr Nizamuddin told the audience that besides the establishment of the Rasool University of Technology and the University of Home Economics, a plan for providing systematic training to twenty thousand teachers had been chalked out. Similarly, 500 faculty members will be provided doctoral scholarships. Out of these, 100 scholarships will be given this year. He said that 72 community colleges have also been planned to be set up in various districts of the province starting from next year. Four community colleges have already been set up to provide quality education.
He further said that besides providing assistance for holding of 1,100 educational conferences and public seminars, the PHEC will also award 35 post-doctoral scholarships this year.
It is hoped that the PHEC will help to maintain international standards in the higher educational sector.
