ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: University of Arid Agriculture, Rawalpindi, (UAAR) has unveiled a five-year development plan to strengthen its infrastructure and ensure quality research and education at the campus, Dawn has learnt.
Under the programme, faculty of veterinary and animal sciences, a centre for environmental sciences, department of biotechnology/ bio informatics, a food analysis laboratory and a museum of agriculture and biology will be established during the next five years at an estimated cost of Rs968.67 million.
Strengthening of sports, residential and medical facilities is also part of this plan. Talking about the five-year vision plan, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan said: "We are committed to bringing UAAR in line with international standards and this programme is one dimension of our vision to develop and sustain our identity as a teaching and research institute of highest quality, producing graduates with adequate training for high professional achievement."
This programme will also support university's activities in enhancing scientific and cultural vision of the society as well as its economic wellbeing especially for the deprived region of the Barani areas, he said.
We are collaborating with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and other institutions in public and private sector to develop a mid-level agri-literate community to create awareness at grass-root level," he said. The university is benefiting more from the HEC's Foreign Faculty Hiring Scheme and newly adopted Tenure Track System, he said.
Explaining the academic achievements gained during the year 2003-04, Dr Khan said adopting a new revised scheme of study for BSc (Hons) Agriculture the university had started an internship programme at BSc (Hons) agriculture level to bridge the gap between the university and industrial sector and to create strong ties between researchers and industry.
Similarly, the university started BSc (Hons) in Agriculture Extension to establish an atmosphere of maximum understanding with a process of two-way communication between farmers and university students.
The enrolment in various disciplines of the university has been increased, as the university has developed a high technology centralized instrumentation centre, he said. The university also encourages its students and faculty to submit projects to obtain research grants from different institutions especially from the HEC, he said.
Regarding the financial resources of the university, Dr Khan disclosed that during the last year the recurring grant had been increased from Rs30.089 million to Rs65 million.
Three development projects funded by the federal government worth Rs90.679 million have been completed, however, four new projects worth Rs110.839 million with the support of the HEC are underway.
These ongoing development projects are production of pathogen-free horticulture plants, strengthening of department of soil sciences and construction of a student hostel and a foreign faculty hostel, he said.
"We have also created an endowment fund of Rs10 million to be provided every year for promotion of research and dissemination of new technologies and training required for the development of agriculture," he added.
