QAU celebrates best university rankingfter it was ranked the best university in general and overall categories by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in their annual rankings, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) organised a ceremony at the Department of Earth Science to celebrate.

State Minister for Education and Professional Training, Balighur Rehman was invited to join QAU faculty in the celebrations.

The oldest federal university was declared the best university in regards to quality assurance, teaching quality, research, finance and facilities.

In the last five years, QAU faculty have published 15,000 research papers and the university is awarding 100 doctorates a year.

The state minister congratulated faculty, staff and students for securing the top position. He said the ranking of the university is a sign of the university`s dedication to research and academic excellence.

`I will ensure that the needs of the university are fulfilled,` he said.

QAU Vice Chancellor (VC) Javed Ashraf appreciated the academic contributions of the faculty, including the publication of the scholarly journals and training students.

He said that other than HEC`s rankings, QAU was the only university in the country included in a list of the world`s top 500 universities, according to reports in US News and World Report.

However, financial constraints continue to pose problems in providing state of the art facilities to students, staff and faculty, the VC said.

However, the VC said, financial constraints are the main hurdie for providing state-of-the-art facilities to its students, staff and faculty.

He urged the minister to support QAU because it caters to students from the lower and middle income classes.

`We have the best faculty and what we need is physical infrastructure`, he added.

Gender based studies project launchedo support gender and women`s studies, a project was launched at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) under the Gender Equity Program (GEP) of the Aurat Foundation.

The project is funded by USAID.

AIOU will be providing research opportunities to students from seven regions. Orientation workshops will be conducted over 15 months which will be aimed at strengthening the university`s Gender and Women`s Studies Department and help it in conducting research-based studies.

In these workshops, students and faculty will be sensitised on gender and pro-women legislation.

Speaking at the launching ceremony Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui said the project was very important for capacity-building of faculty and non-faculty staff in regards to gender studies.

The VC said the university will soon be introducing M.Phil degrees on gender and women`s studies in order to sensitise the community about gender roles in the country`s socio-economic development.

Chairman of the Department of Gender Studies, Dr Riffat Haque talked about the main features of the project and said they will soon be offering need-based courses to increase the number of courses in gender studies.

Representatives of the Aurat Foundation, Naeem Mirza and Mahpara Shakil Ghouri also spoke at the launch and gave an organisation`s role and achievements in improving the living conditions of women.