LARKANA: The head of University of Sindh, Larkana campus, has proposed the establishment of a general comprehensive university by the name of University of Larkana integrating all existing public sector higher education institutes and campuses functioning in Larkana.

The university’s pro vice chancellor Prof Dr Azhar Ali Shah urged in a letter Minister for Universities and Boards Mohammad Ismail Rahu to vet the proposal and get it passed by provincial cabinet and Sindh Assembly.

Mr Shah told Dawn on Monday that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s political secretary Jamil Ahmed Soomro had contacted the minister who had assured forwarding the summary about the idea to chief minister.

The general comprehensive model of university offers teaching and research in all disciplines including engineering, medical, law, science, art, business and management, philosophy, theology and all other disciplines.

This model has the benefit of sharing and making optimum use of available resources and thereby reduces financial and temporal overhead and hence it helps raise the status and rank of the university on the list of world universities ranking.

He said that Russia and China which introduced separate discipline-specific universities were also reverting to the model of general comprehensive university whereas UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France and all other advanced countries had already adopted the concept of the general comprehensive university model.

Discussing details of present public sector HEIs and campuses in Larkana, he said that Quaid-i-Awam University of Eng­i­n­eering Science and Technology (QAUEST), Larkana campus, established in 2010 offered higher education in five degree programs — Civil, Electrical, Elec­t­ronic, Mechanical Engineering And Com­p­uter Engineering — with more than 900 male and female students atten­ding classes regularly.

This campus was allotted 350 acres on June 6, 2011, in Arija town on airport road. Five departments and admin block has also been constructed but the campus is in operation at a vacant building of education department in the city. This campus also offered the facility of point buses and hostels for students and staff, he said.

He said that this campus might continue working optimally as Faculty of Engineering and Technol­ogy under the proposed Unive­rsity Larkana. Shah­eed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Sindh Agriculture Univer­sity College in Dokri, established in 1991, offered higher education in seven degree progra­mmes — Soil Science, Agronomy, Horticulture, Plant Pathology, Entom­ology and Plant Protection — where more than 400 male and female students were enrolled in different disciplines, he said.

This campus had been allotted 110 acres near Dokri which also had the facility of point buses and hostels for students and staff. The college might continue working as Faculty of Agricultural Sciences under the proposed university, he said.

He said that Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Law College, Lar­k­ana, offered degree programmes including LLB, LLM in affiliation with Shah Abdul University, Khairpur, and had its own building in the city. This college might work as Faculty of Law under the newly proposed university.

He said that Sindh University, Larkana campus, established in 2012 offered higher education in three disciplines — Business Administration, Computer Science and English Literature — where more than 700 male and female students were enrolled. The campus had been operating in a borrowed building of education department since 2012 as the university had not been allotted land nor point buses or hostel facility had been provided for students and staff, he said.

The campus might continue working under the proposed university after the establishment of Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Business and Commerce, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Social Scien­ces, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Theo­logy and Religion and other faculties, he said.

Dr Shah said in his letter that 350 acres land had already been allotted to QAUEST Larkana campus on airport road near Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Medical University, Arija campus, could encompass all the present faculties and other faculties if needed in future.

Recently, heads of all HEIs held a meeting and agreed to integrate all the HEIs in one comprehensive university by the name of University of Larkana. It was therefore requested that in the interest of quality higher education for the people of Larkana division, a new bill be tabled for the establishment of University of Larkana integrating all the HEIs and campuses, said the letter.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2023