ISLAMABAD: A month after their appointments, the vice chancellors of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) took charge of their offices on Friday.

QAU VC Dr Mohammad Ali has brought his vast experience in higher education to the country’s top ranked university. He has joined the QAU from the Government College University Faisalabad where he was serving as the vice chancellor.

He is known for his specialision in the field of biological sciences. Dr Ali earlier served as lecturer at the Lawrence College Murree and Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan.

He earned his PhD in 1999 from the University of Wales, UK, and post-doctorate from MU, Colombia, in 2008. According to a statement issued by the QAU, its new head is the winner of 19 national awards on the basis of research and teaching quality, including Pakistan Academy of Science gold medal, Best University Teacher Award and Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.

He completed 25 research projects and also worked in a project management team for two HEC-funded projects worth Rs79 million – the establishment of Institute of Biotechnology and the Centre for Undergraduate Studies.

Prof Dr Ziaul Qayyum, the new VC of the AIOU, was serving as the VC of the University of Gujrat. According to a statement issued by the AIOU, Dr Zia is an experienced educationist, who earned master’s degrees in mathematics and computer science besides a doctorate from the University of Leeds, UK, specialising in machine learning/semantic information retrieval. His professional experience spans over 28 years.

The two VCs were appointed on Sept 26. On the intervention of Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood, the Punjab government relived them to join their new offices.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2018