Our Correspondent
Bahawalpur
A competent and dedicated academic, Engr Prof Dr Athar Mahboob (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), Vice Chancellor the Islamia University Bahawalpur doesn’t believe in mere claims as his one year’s performance speaks a lot about his efforts.
Within one year the number of students rose from 13,500 to 25,000 and seven more buses were purchased so as to facilitate the maximum number of students.
In this regard, he went a step further and decided to start bus service to the nearby towns like Lodhran, Yazman, Ahmad Pur East as students were facing great difficulties in reaching the universities.
During an interview with Pakistan Observer, Dr Athar Mahboob said faculties were extended from 6 to 13 and many new departments were introduced and seven new disciplines were added in the Faculty of Engineering. Five new hostels were also built as the university needed them due to the great surge in the number of students since his appointment as vice chancellor, he said.
Nearly 1,000 students could be accommodated in these newly built hostels. The most spectacular achievement of Dr Athar Mahboob is that for the first time in the history of the university, it bore more than 60% of its expenditures from its own resources. His dream is to make it self-sufficient and under his dedicated leadership very soon the university will be financially independent.
To cater to the needs of the deserving students, the university decided to spend more on the scholarships and Rs343 million have been allocated in this regard. More than Rs200 million have been distributed among the poor and the needy students of the region as the vice chancellor is well aware of the fact the region is backward and to lift and only education can lift it up economically as well as socially.
Dr Athar Mahboob while talking to Pakistan Observer said he believed in creating an enviable atmosphere for both students and academics and that’s why more than 200 academics have been promoted through the selection board and also appointed new academics by following the due procedure. During the Covid pandemic, he launched an Online Classes and thus saved the semester of nearly twenty five thousand students and its Online Program was adjudged as best by the Higher Education Commission.
It is also his vision which bore fruit as the researchers of the university were successful in manufacturing the Ventilator Prototype which was a big step.
A mobile application was also launched by the university so as to guide the people in finding the Blood Plasma. The university also produced its own sanitizers and provided it free of cost to the doctors and policemen who are the frontline warriors against the pandemic of Corona.
Dr Athar Mahboob also helped introduce the first-ever Bahawalpur Literary and Cultural Festival and its main focus was to bring to light the diverse cultural heritage of the Bahawalpur. Many top notch writers and intellectuals graced the occasion and the people of the region got a great chance to mingle with the leading writers of not only Pakistan but also from other countries. There is also an urgent need to start a vibrant publication center of the university as it will be greatly helpful in awakening the interest of the people in the history and heritage of Bahawalpur among the common people.
