FAISALABAD, April 15: The Government College University Faisalabad has taken over the charge of the Faisalabad Institute of Textile and Fashion Design (FITFD) raised by local industrialists, Dawn learnt on Tuesday.

The institution having two faculties — Faculty of Art & Design and Faculty of Management Sciences — was established in 2004 with Governor Khalid Maqbool its patron in chief.

A board of trustees comprising 22 members, most of them industrialists, had been constituted to run the businesses of the institution and an industrialist, Khurram Iftikhar, was appointed its chairman.

Nearly three hundred students are studying in the FITFD situated in New Civil Lines on Mall Road.

FITFD faculty of art and design offers four-year bachelor in Art and Design with specialisation in Textile Design, Graphic Design and Fine Arts while a four-year bachelor programme is being offered by Faculty of Management Sciences in Business Administration (BBA) with specialisation in Textile Management, Marketing, Marketing Merchandising, Human Resource Management, Apparel Management and Financial Management. It is also offering two-year Master in Business Administration (MBA).

The FITFD was already affiliated with the GCUF. However, the varsity had nothing to do with its affairs except holding the examination. But now the university administration, after taking control of the FITFD, will run all the affairs of institute.

Sources said it was the FITFD board of trustees which in its meeting decided to approach the GCU administration to hand over control of the institution. The administration after receiving the request put up the case in its syndicate which gave its consent for the proposal, they added.

Talking to Dawn, the GCUF Vice-Chancellor Dr Arif Ali lauded the board of trustees for raising `an excellent’ institution in the city.

He said the governor, who is also the GCUF chancellor, approved transfer of FITFD to the varsity and hoped the transfer would prove beneficial for students.

He said the FITFD land was also being transferred to the GCUF and the process was underway.