LAHORE: Governor Balighur Rehman has directed the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) chairman and the secretary higher education to ensure that the cases of the private universities applying for new charter are dealt within a short period of time.

“I want a hassle-free process of awarding charter to the private universities. The PHEC should forward the new charter cases of the universities within 90 days while the higher education department must decide on the charter within 30 days,” the governor said.

In a meeting with PHEC chairman Shahid Munir and higher education secretary Najaf Iqbal at the Governor House here on Thursday, important decisions were taken regarding the promotion of higher education.

Principal secretary to the governor Nabil Ahmed Awan was also present in the meeting.

Earlier, it took years to get charter of the varsity because of the cumbersome procedure.

The governor said the higher education should be adapted to modern requirements. The private sector universities were playing an important role in the promotion of higher education, he added.

He said linkage of research done in universities with the industry was very important because universities played an important role in research and development. In this regard, he said a consortia was being formed in universities on important issues, including environment, with the aim of making practical use of the research done in universities and the existing skills.

UHE: The University of Home Economics (UHE) on Thursday announced admissions to intermediate in home economics during the current academic year.

An agenda was presented in the syndicate to start the intermediate programme at the university, and it was approved in the syndicate meeting, which was chaired by Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun.

The Higher Education Department also issued a no objection certificate to the UHE for admissions in intermediate, while affiliation has also been obtained from the BISE, Lahore-

The UHE allocated 200 seats for intermediate students and admissions will be made under the College of Home Economics and Social Sciences at the University.

Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Kanwal Ameen said admissions to intermediate will promote home economics subject at the secondary level and the institute would have a legacy of 68 years in the field of home economics.

She said state-of-the-art labs were established for the teaching of home economics and the first-year admissions would be made after the announcement of matriculation results in all boards of Punjab.

Earlier, the UHE Academic Council approved the criteria, rules and regulations for the intermediate program and it was shared on the university website.

The university offered a six-year BS Honors degree after matriculation which was banned by the Punjab Higher Education Commission in 2017.

The college was directed to offer a 4-year BS degree and the new intermediate degree program was launched this year after matriculation.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2022