LAHORE: The Punjab University Syndicate on Thursday recommended a Rs20.87 billion budget for the 2026-27 financial year carrying a Rs3.68bn deficit.
The 1,761st meeting of the syndicate was chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ali Shah to approve the budget estimates.
The document shows that the university’s General Current Fund projects income of Rs12.98bn against expenditure of Rs16.66bn, leaving a deficit of Rs3.682bn, equivalent to 28.4 per cent of the projected income.
The syndicate agenda separately estimates internal borrowing of Rs3.909bn for the next fiscal.
PUASA says budget lacks strategy to tackle dwindling finances
The overall proposed budget of Rs20.87bn includes the General Current Fund, departmental self-supporting programmes and other university funds, and has been forwarded to the Senate for final approval.
According to the budget estimates available with Dawn, the university expects to generate 74pc of its income (Rs9.66bn) from its own resources, while government grants of Rs3.32bn will account for only 26pc of total income.
Income from examinations is estimated at Rs3.26bn, making it the university’s single largest source of revenue, followed by student fees amounting to Rs2.09bn.
The documents further reveal that salaries, allowances and pensions will consume more than Rs10.75bn, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the General Current Fund expenditure.
The university has also earmarked Rs879 million for faculty benefits, Rs1.14bn for benefits of non-teaching staff, Rs405m for hospital and medicine charges,Rs330m for development expenditure and Rs240m for research and capacity building.
The university administration, however, highlights the welfare component of the budget, saying students would receive around Rs10bn in subsidies and scholarships from government grants, university resources and other funding sources.
It says Rs341m have been allocated from the university’s own resources for scholarships, while Rs284m set aside for research grants.
The administration maintains that financial reforms have improved the university’s fiscal position, claiming the revised budget deficitfor 2025-26 has been reduced to Rs1.67bn from Rs2.49bn projected in the original estimates.
VC Prof Shah expresses confidence that the budget deficit would be eliminated in the coming years by expanding revenue streams instead of relying on borrowing.
However, Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) has described the financial situation as the worst in the institution’s history.
In a statement issued after the Syndicate meeting, the association says the budget lacks any meaningful strategy to address the university’s deteriorating finances.
It alleges that approximately Rs4.88bn from the university’s cash reserves had been utilised during the last 14 months, while another Rs1bn generated through self-supporting academic programmes under the One Account Policy had also been spent, pushing the university into a critical financialposition.
The association claims that the self-supporting budget has ended the current financial year with an estimated Rs350m deficit for the first time.
It attributes the financial crisis to what it calls unbalanced administrative policies, the centralisation of self-supporting programmes, declining admissions and rising expenditure, and urges the Punjab government and the Higher Education Commission to conduct an independent review of the university’s financial and administrative policies.
The budget documents available with Dawn also show that during the Syndicate’s discussion on the estimates, member Prof Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad argued the university’s financial crunch was the result of a sustained decline in revenues coupled with increasing expenditure and depletion of financial reserves.
He proposed that the Punjab Higher Education Department provide a Rs4bn bailout package to the university on the pattern of the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore.
According to the recorded proceedings, the VC acknowledged that public sector universities have come under financial pressure following the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that the situation has further worsened after the Higher Education Commission discontinued private BA/BSc and MA/MSc programmes, affecting a major source of university revenue.
He maintained that the administration is strengthening the university’s endowment fund to restore financial stability.
PhD: Punjab University has awarded a PhD degree in Communication Studies to Hafsa Javed.
The title of her doctoral dissertation is “News Verification and Sharing Behaviour of Social Media Users in Pakistan.”
Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2026