The 66th meeting of Syndicate of Government College University (GCU) has approved four new BS and three MPhil programmes besides giving its go-ahead for the establishment of two departments i.e. International Relations and Electronics.
GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi Sunday chaired the meeting in which university’s annual budget of Rs2.5billion for the fiscal year 2022-23 was also approved.
The newly approved BS programmes were Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Gender & Climate Change and Disaster Management, while three MPhil programmes were Data Science, Sociology and Public Policy and Governance.
The university’s syndicate allocated an amount of Rs904million for the annual works plan for the old campus, while funds of almost Rs487million were sanctioned for the development of new campus.
Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi informed the members of the syndicate that the new academic block, faculty residences, central library and Sufi centre would be completed in the next one and a half years in GCU’s New Campus at Kala Shah Kaku.
The syndicate approved a substantial increase in research incentives for publications. A faculty member now could receive as much as Rs60,000 for publishing a research article. For a book, the amount could be Rs50,000.
The syndicate also approved the appointments of Director Sports; Professors in Computer Science, English and History; Associate Professors in Urdu and Zoology; Assistant Professors in Botany, Clinical Psychology, Commerce and Finance, Economics, English, Fisheries, History, Law, Pharmacy, and Zoology; Lecturers in Clinical Psychology, Commerce and Finance, Economics, Management Studies, and Zoology; and Research Associates in Archive Studies, Art History, Economics, and Management Studies.
In his concluding remarks at the meeting, Prof Zaidi said he was grateful to syndics for their valuable input in transforming this 20-year old university into a research-based institution.
“In this meeting, we have requested to take measures to expand our jurisdiction from Punjab to Pakistan and overseas. We wish to be a global university, so many individuals and organisations have approached us for a public-private partnership,” he concluded.
