GCU trains universities’ management staff

Lahore: The Quality Enhancement Cell of Government College University, Lahore has organised a five-day training workshop for the management staff of provincial universities to edify their skills in good governance, inter and intra-departmental communication, financial and files management, information technology, presentation, coordination, youth handling and above all quality assurance. The staff members, nominated by the University of Education (UoE), University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), National College of Arts (NCA), and GCU, participated in the workshop held under the Modern University Governance (MUG) Programme of the Higher Education Commission at GCU.

Addressing the participants of workshop, GCU Quality Enhancement Cell Director Ms Iram Sohail said that the Higher Education Commission had very graciously provided Rs 2.4 million to GCU QEC for conducting eight training workshops for the non-teaching staff of higher education institutions including GCU. “These workshops are aimed at equipping the universities management staff with latest governance and management tools in order to bridge the gap between administration and academia which we feel has increased in universities during the past years,” she added. The QEC director said that the first training under MUG had made a special focus on communication with youth, good governance and quality assurance.

Addressing the workshop, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Khaleeq-ur-Rahman said that that education and research had become complex and multidisciplinary and it was no more possible for a single department to possess all the knowledge, equipment, and techniques required for a modern postgraduate programme, so it was important to have strong communication and sharing of resources and expertise among the departments of a university. He said in GCU, political science and law, which were social sciences departments, had collaborated, with a natural sciences department, Chemistry, to launch an effective and international standard LLM in Forensic Justice.

The Vice Chancellor said that it was prime duty of management staff to provide a positive social environment to the university faculty for research and development. He also laid a stress on involving the faculty members in policy making and development, so that they take ownership of these polices and implement them in true letter and spirit.

Prof Rahman also said it was not only knowledge which made a person good teacher, rather it was his character and abilities to impart knowledge which played a more crucial role. Talking about the daily routine works, the VC told the universities’ management staff that with bad attitude, they could never have a positive day, and with positive attitude, they could never have bad day.

Later, GCU Additional Registrar Mr Saboor Khan, Treasurer Abid Shahzad, Dr Shahida Batool, Dr Faiza Sharif, Ms Salah-u-Din, Ms Sobia Tahir Ms Amna Tariq, Ms Rubina Murtaza, also held technical sessions with the participants of the workshop.