To win over hearts of the public and implement the PTI manifesto in letter and spirit, the Punjab government has taken an important decision to establish university in each of the 36 districts of the province. Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Bazdar has issued directives for the immediate establishment of a university in every district.
According to sources, the Punjab Chief Minister has directed the Higher Education Department to start work for setting up new universities in 17 districts of the province in the first phase.
For the purpose, the Higher Education Department has been asked to carry out work on either convert postgraduate college in the respective district into university or upgrade the sub-campuses of government universities into chartered universities.
The Higher Education Department has also started preparing proposals as per the directives of the Punjab Chief Minister.
According to sources in the Higher Education Department, Rs2.5 billion is urgently needed for the establishment of the proposed 17 universities. The sources informed that Rs150 to Rs200 million per university is required for the initial stages of setting up a university.
According to the policy, each university will have to pay Rs 1 billion for three years.
On the other hand, Times Higher Education has released the Impact Rankings of the world’s universities. Among the 766 universities of 85 countries, as many 23 universities of Pakistan have also been included.
In the Gender Equality category, the Lahore College for Women University has been declared as the number one university in Pakistan.
It should be noted that there are 61 universities across Punjab including Lahore, out of which 35 are working in public and 26 in private sector.
On the other hand, the Punjab government has taken various initiatives to promote quality higher education in the province. The government has focused on ensuring access of the students belong to the poor and middle strata of the society to high education.
From increase monetary budget to the availability of infrastructure and facilities, the government, through higher education department, has launched different programme to provide quality modern education to the students to prepare them for leading the country in the future.
The vision of Higher Education is to promote development of an enlightened and prospering Punjab by reinforcing knowledge economy along with a focus on equitable and quality learning.
The realization of the higher education department’s vision of “enlightened and prospering Punjab by reinforcing knowledge economy” rests on the shift from access to quality which is evident from the key initiatives it has taken in recent past.
The Punjab Higher Education Department has administrative and financial control of the multi-tier Higher Education sector in the Punjab.
It manages 517 colleges with general as well as specific programs in 37 districts of the province. It also supervises 09 Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, 17 Public Sector Universities and 26 Autonomous Educational Professional Institutions of Higher Education, Commerce Colleges.
