LAHORE: The Punjab government on Tuesday decided to arrange one-year foundation course for boys and girls having passed intermediate examinations and desirous of getting admission to Oxford University, Cambridge University and London School of Economics.

A decision to the effect was taken in a meeting of logistic committee set up to review arrangements for the study tour of 41 position holder students to 25 universities of Britain, Germany and China.

Presiding over the meeting, Punjab Minister for Education Rana Mashhood said besides position holders, boys and girls studying in first year of colleges, medical and engineering universities and talented students of master programmes, top position holders in commerce, A-Level and technical education would also be sent on a study tour to foreign universities.

The British universities only considered candidates for admission who successfully completed 13 years education courses, said the minister, adding that a decision had also been made to introduce institutional mechanism for providing necessary guidance with regard to available scholarships in European universities.

An agreement of cooperation would soon be reached with admission counselor of Oxford University Summer School. Under the agreement, joint scholarship scheme would be launched by Oxford University, London, Punjab Higher Education Commission and Higher Education Department. Special desks under the title of Pakistan centres would also be set up in these three institutions for the purpose, he said.

Minister Ahmad supported a proposal of Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor to add some credits in the curriculum for social work in the primary schools for students of higher education.

“It will enhance the quality of education and change life of some 10 million students studying in around 65,000 primary schools in Punjab,” said the minister while appreciating the initiative and reforms brought by the Higher Education Commission for development and uplifting of higher education in the country.

Exams: The Postgraduate Diploma in International Affairs annual examination 2014 will start from March 14 while the BA annual examination 2015 for the hearing impaired students will begin on April 11.

According to a notification, the date sheet has been posted at PU website www.pu.edu.pk.

Meanwhile, another notification says admission forms and fee for the First Semester Examination 2015 of BS 4-Years Programme will be received till March 18.

Published in Dawn March 11th , 2015

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