GUJAR KHAN: The establishment of five universities during the two years of the PTI government is a matchless achievement while work on three more universities is underway in Punjab.

This was stated by Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfraz, Punjab minister for higher education, while talking to Dawn on Wednesday.

He said 1,500 lecturers were also being recruited through the Punjab Public service Commission (PPSC) to overcome staff shortage in colleges.

He said academic activities at the University of Mianwali, Women University Rawalpindi, University of Chakwal and Kohsar University, Murree, had started while Baba Guru Nanak University in Nankana Saheb was under construction.

Work has also started on the establishment of Thal University in Bhakar while Prime Minister Imran Khan recently laid the foundation of the University of Hafizabad andSialkot University of Applied Engineering and Technology worth Rs14 billion.

He said Government College University Faisalabad, Government College Women University Sialkot, Women University Bahawalpur, Nawaz Sharif University of Technology, University of Sahiwal and University of Jhang were left in a poor condition during the PML-N government.

He said the statutes of certainuniversitieswere not established by the previous government. He said he and the governor of Punjab organised the statutes of 18 universities and forwarded the summariesfor approval. The PTI has to finish incomplete tasks of the PML-N from 2008, he added.

The minister said that recently the higher education departmentlaunched e-transfers of the teaching staff. The e-transfer mechanism not only closed windows of red-tape but also established a corruption-free merit system in the department.

He said Rs28 billion had been allocated for the annual development plan of the higher education sector but it had to be cut down after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2020