LAHORE: The Government College University (GCU) on Saturday opened its new campus at Kala Shah Kaku for academic and co-curricular activities.

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood inaugurated the first academic block and a hostel on the new campus spread over 370 acres.

The minister said that it was not easy to execute mega projects in Pakistan because of the many permissions needed from multiple departments at each step. He said some systems in the country needed to be revised for better management. The government was committed to improving the quality of education in the country and the two-year bachelor’s degree had no value in the new system, he added.

He congratulated the GCU vice chancellor (VC) on completion of his tenure and said that there should be no retiring age for a teacher.

VC Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said the land for new campus at Kala Shah Kaku was purchased with support from the Punjab government in 2009 and its PC-I amounting to Rs998 million was approved in 2014-15. The HEC had started issuing funds in 2016 and it was completed in four years.

He said the PC-I included an academic block, partial administrative block, hostel, residential apartments for staff and external developments on campus. The external works, academic block and hostel were inaugurated after completion, while the administrative building and residential apartments would be completed soon.

The VC said that the university would run a shuttle service between both its campuses to facilitate teachers, students and staff.

Later, he presented a copy of the academic roll of honour to Shafqat Mehmood which the minister had earned as a student of the university’s psychology department in 1970.

Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2019