KARACHI, Jan 2: The University of Karachi has initiated a programme to enable its faculty members to acquire Ph.D. qualifications for enhancing their academic performance as well as having chances for upward mobility professionally.
A senior official of the university said the move would also help the institution to have a highly qualified faculty.
The vice chancellor of the university, Prof Zafar Saeed Saify, has asked the non-Ph.D teachers at the institution to enrol themselves for the programme.
He said all necessary facilities would be provided to the teachers, including alleviating their teaching load, provision of necessary funds and assistance towards research facilities.
From now onwards, non-Ph.D faculty member can not be promoted as assistant and associate professor and doctoral level qualifications is important for the upward mobility.
Meanwhile, Prof Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi, an adviser to the vice chancellor, has said that in the Faculty of Arts there were only 41 Ph.Ds out of a total strength of 173, and that of the 132 non-Ph.Ds teachers, 81 were male and 51 were female.
In the Faculty of Science, the number of teachers with Ph.D. qualifications is 139 out of a total of 245. Of the 115 non-Ph.Ds, 79 were female and 36 male. The Faculty of Pharmacy has a total strength of 31 and of these 22 are Ph.Ds. Of the remaining nine, only one is professor and the rest are lecturers.
In the Faculty of Islamic Learning, out of 13 teachers ten have Ph.D. qualifications.
There is no teacher with a Ph.D qualification in the Faculty of Commerce.
It has been stated that the approved strength of the faculty members at the university was 598 but the current number of teachers at the institution is 475.
STAFF’S SALARIES: The KU vice chancellor has expressed optimism that all the KU faculty and employees will soon get their salaries in accordance with the new pay structure announced by the government.
“The university has made elaborate preparations as grant from the federal government will soon be made available for this purpose,” he said, while greeting the faculty members and students on the commencement of new academic session.
Prof Saify expressed the hope that the KU faculty and the students would work together and make collaborative efforts to improve the standard of efficiency in the university.
“The university is striving hard to offer the students a suitable and supportive environment for academic and co-curricular activities,” he said.—APP
