LAHORE: The Government College University (GCU) on Wednesday announced that representatives of student bodies would be allowed to attend official meetings and make decisions on administrative and academic matters.

The representatives of various societies also would be given an opportunity to provide feedback on the administrative and academic matters to address their apprehensions and getting real-time feedback and fixing those problems.

GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi said the students were main stakeholders in the university affairs. “It is unfortunate we do not involve them enough in decision making.” He said the students’ presence in official meetings would not only give their perspectives on the policies but it would also build their capacity as future leaders of the country.

While discussing another element of this student-centric approach, he said the administration would adopt a policy of taking courses and getting teaching feedback from the students three times in a semester.

Prof Zaidi said the students would help the university improve the quality of learning and their feedback would provide the course instructors, and academic and administrative management with insights into the teaching and learning outcomes, and methods of imparting knowledge. He said the exercise would guarantee our students the best possible learning environment at the GCU.

He further said the early course feedback would help the teachers know whether students had received course material and understood the policies related to rubrics, assessment and plagiarism.

The VC said the mid-semester review would be beneficial to both students and the faculty and it would help the faculty review their teaching and student engagement strategies. “Our students will feel more empowered to help design their own learning processes. Recent research shows, due to mid-semester evaluation, learning processes markedly improve during the semester,” he said.

He said the end of the semester feedback would help the university make informed decisions about the offering of a course and performance of a teacher.

ADMISSION RESCHEDULED: The Punjab University Department of Examinations has issued revised schedule for online submission of admission forms & fee for the LLB (5 years) Part-I, II, III & IV supplementary examination 2020 and LLB (3 years) Part-I, II & III supplementary examination 2020.

The last date for receipt of online admission forms and fee of said exams for late college candidates is April 30 with single fee while the forms can be submitted with double fee from May 3 to 7.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2021