KARACHI, April 27: The rescheduled maiden meeting of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology senate will be held at the varsity’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal campus on April 28.
Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, will be the chief guest, while the deputy chair of the varsity’s senate, Jamiluddin Aali, will introduce the members of the senate to the dignitaries invited to the launching ceremony of the senate.
Earlier, the senate was to meet on April 9, but in view of the preoccupations of the chief guest some of the senate’s members it could not be possible, said an official of the university, adding that this time the administration was sure that meeting would take place.
Necessary notification regarding appointments of members to the senate has already been issued, but two representatives of the varsity teachers are still either to be nominated or elected.
“The requirement of filling two seats of the senate through teachers is among many of the items on the agenda of the first meeting,” said the official adding that as soon as the senate decided the mechanism for teachers’ representation on the senate, the related process would be observed.
A source said that under the charter ordinance (No 119) of November 19, 2002, the senate of the federal university was not equal to the size of those of other public sector universities, but at the same time it is authorised to form its syndicate and academic council as well.
Referring to an another ordinance (No 120) issued on November 19, 2002 in the case of universities administered by the federal government, the source said that though it did not address the formation of any syndicate at federal universities, the Federal Urdu University, was still at the liberty to continue with the idea of forming a syndicate of the university since the ordinance-120 had no mention whether the Ordinance 119 or some parts of it were being superseded or not.
A university official, when contacted, said that there was no item on the first agenda of the Federal Urdu University about any adoption of a few of the provisions as included in Ordinance No 120.
The first meeting of the university would consider, among other items, the logo and seal of the university, formation of different committees, problems of the existing staff which earlier mainly belonged to the former Urdu Science College and the Urdu Arts College.
At present, according to varsity sources, 233 full-time and 90 part-time teachers are discharging their duties at the university, while the number of non-teaching staff is around 302.
The different courses run by the two former Urdu colleges at the University Road and the Baba-i-Urdu Road, at intermediate, bachelor and masters levels are also being maintained and offered by the new university setup.
After the establishment of the university, two senior teachers, who have completed their regular services at the University of Karachi -Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui and Professor Muhammad Sajidin- have been appointed as vice-chancellor and registrar respectively of the new university.
According to the varsity’s vice-chancellor, the basic planning of the federal university is aimed towards four objectives, ie, modern syllabus, stimulation of thinking in students, promotion of knowledge and enquiry, and the maximum acceptability of graduates in the job market.
