LAHORE, March 18: Governor Khalid Maqbool has approved in principle grant of university status to the College of Veterinary Sciences, Lahore.

The upgraded college will be called as University of Animal Science and Technology and will hopefully start functioning before the end of this financial year.

The governor gave approval for the upgradation of the college at a briefing on “Need for institutional upgradation in teaching and research for the emerging livestock and poultry sectors” by college principal Prof Dr Saghir Ahmed Jafri on the college campus on Monday.

Mr Maqbool said the university should make its scope wider from studying animal health and production to the science of fodder. “Making livestock as an element of agro-economy should be the ultimate goal of the university,” he said.

The governor directed the officials concerned to constitute a committee headed by the Punjab livestock secretary to finalize PC-1 of the university. He said the committee should not indulge more in grades for faculty and the infrastructure but ponder to improve and develop modern technologies to give boost to the livestock industry. He said the livestock sector which was not attended to in the past must be given due attention. He said the multinational food companies should also be consulted and facilitated with their required standard meat to discourage meat import.

He said the board of governors of the university should have representation of all major associations concerned. He said the officials should also collaborate with the foreign veterinary universities to develop curricula and acquire modern technologies.

The governor said that awareness should be created about animal life among masses. He said students should be exposed to more practical training. He also asked the college principal to use the Lahore Zoo for practical purposes.

The governor also asked the officials to involve bankers to offer small loans to people so that they could acquire animals and earn their livelihood besides helping the livestock to grow.

Earlier, college principal Prof Jafri briefed the governor about the existing status of the college, its limitations, emerging livestock and poultry sectors and future challenges and solutions.

Since 1971, he said the college was working under an undefined status which had resulted into administrative, financial limitations. He said that there were no career prospects for teaching staff besides poor practical training facilities for students.

He said the poultry and livestock sectors had contributed some 36 per cent of the agriculture GDP last year. He said poultry was emerging as one of the largest expanding sectors in the country. He said milk was also the highest value crop of the Punjab.

Prof Jafri said that it was a high time that economically viable and socially acceptable production systems for farmers should be devised. He also stressed the need to modernize livestock and poultry sectors by application of efficient locally tested technologies like housing and management; breed improvement; fodder and feed technologies; disease control and eradication; and marketing. He also stressed for the human resource development in livestock and poultry sectors.

The governor later visited different labs in the college, met students and asked about their problems.