LAHORE, Oct 4: Governor Khalid Maqbool has announced that all universities from next year will hold admissions on the basis of a uniform entrance test to be conducted by the National Testing Service (NTS).
He was speaking to students, faculty and registrars of eight local public and private sector universities at the Governor’s House on Wednesday.
He admitted that there was a persistent problem of non-accreditation of engineering qualifications offered by the private sector as well as in some disciplines in public sector universities.
He also admitted that these graduates were facing problems in getting jobs. He, however, added that the growing societies needed to take risks in establishing new universities and launching new programmes.
He said the government was now working on ensuring accreditation of engineering qualifications in consultation with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
“I will stress that the accreditation issue be resolved at the earliest,” he added.
The governor said the job market was opening up in Pakistan and there was a shortage of engineers and other professionals. He said Gen Pervez Musharraf had already announced that six new engineering universities would be established in Punjab.
In order to make graduates more compatible with the industry needs, he said, the government was linking universities with relevant industries for on-job training and internship.
Answering a question from a blind student of the special education department of Punjab University, the governor announced that he had taken an instant decision that special persons should also be offered higher education free of cost.
To another question, the governor asked the PU administration to visit and close private law colleges operating without registration and affiliation in its jurisdiction.
He said the government was working on a plan to launch carrier-counselling facilities for all students in all universities.
To another question, the governor said, the issue of quality faculty was a major one as many university teachers were imparting conventional teaching.
He, however, said the newly recruited young faculty was dynamic. During last year alone, he said, the local universities had recruited some 600 young and dynamic faculty members.
The governor said the government had allocated Rs3 billion for the universities, besides offering a large number of scholarships.
He said the Punjab government was also offering some Rs1 billion scholarships to students in different universities on the basis of their innovative programmes.
He said the government had established two medical and one veterinary and animal sciences universities. He said the Sargodha university would soon have a medical college.
Referring to the ranking of universities, the governor called for a major improvement in College of Art and Design of the Punjab University as it stood nowhere and the National College of Arts topped the list in arts universities.
Punjab Governor’s principal secretary Shahid Rasheed, special secretary education (colleges) Syed Mubashar Raza and special secretary education (schools) Zahid Saeed were also present on the occasion. —Staff Reporter