Research work spending enhanced to Rs 50 million: Punjab University vice chancellor

Punjab University (PU) Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Mujahid Kamran has stated that spending on research has been substantially enhanced from the previous Rs 4.00 million to Rs 50.00 million in the current year's budget to promote high quality research work in the Punjab University.
He was addressing the students, research workers and senior faculty members after inaugurating a newly-upgraded computer lab in the Department of Mathematics on Thursday. Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Jamil Anwar Chaudhry, Chairman Mathematics Department Professor Dr Shahid Saeed Siddiqi and Incharge Computer Center Professor Dr Muhammad Sharif also addressed the audience.
Vice-Chancellor said that state-of the-art facilities and latest equipment is being installed in PU laboratories to facilitate advance studies as well as promote research work and creation of new knowledge for socio-economic development of the country. He said presently there are 641 regular faculty members, out of whom only 33.7 percent are PhD holders.
He said it was his mission and dream to bring this ratio to at least 70 to 80 percent so that varsity could play an exemplary leadership role in boosting academic and research excellence. He urged upon the young lecturers and Assistant Professors to get themselves enrolled with foreign varsities for doctorate degrees.
He remarked that the academic performance and research output of those varsity departments having larger number of PhDs is immensely greater than the remaining ones. The population of Egypt is 50 percent of Pakistan but their number of PhDs is far greater as compared to us. He regretted that at present we are spending 2 percent of our Rs 170 billion GDP on education, out of which 0.2 percent is allocated for R&D.
He said while the rulers are recklessly raising budgetary allocations on politically motivated schemes, the target of raising education expenditure to a minimum of four percent of GDP has so far existed on paper only. Dr Kamran further observed that the Holy Quran puts the highest emphasis on importance of acquiring knowledge as the very first revelation received by the Holy Prophet starts with the word "read".