Dr Athar Mahboob Completes Two Successful Years As VC IUB

BAHAWALPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Jul, 2021 ) :Prof. Dr Athar Mahboob completed two years of assuming the responsibilities of Vice-Chancellor of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB). During the period, the University has made remarkable progress in every field, an example of which is hard to find in the past. When he took over charge two years ago, the situation at the University was dire. The number of students was only 13,000 and running the University financially had become a major challenge.

Due to the administrative skills and decision-making power of Prof. Dr Athar Mahboob, the University has overcome all difficulties in just two years and embarked on a new journey of development and prosperity as a global university. And to make it active, it has been divided into 14 faculties and the number of departments has increased from 48 to 129. The number of undergraduates, master's, M.Phil and PhD level admissions for thousands of first-class qualified students in South Punjab and across the country has been increased to 42,000. Due to a well-organized and transparent admission policy, Islamia University of Bahawalpur has become an excellent educational destination for local and non-local youth. The number of faculty also increased and the number of professors increased from 18 to 43. Similarly, instead of more than one thousand part-time faculty, associate lecturers will be appointed. Overall, the number of faculty increased from 550 to over 1000. In the field of administration also new, posts were created according to the increasing volume of the university on which appointments were made under the selection board. After a long period of ten years, the regular appointment of Registrar and Controller of Examinations took place. When Prof. Dr Athar Mahboob took over the responsibilities, the budget of the University was Rs. 3.8 billion which has increased to Rs. 7.2 billion today. Similarly, the development budget has increased from Rs 0.9 billion to Rs 3.5 billion. The total budget of the University has exceeded Rs. 10 billion which is a record. In terms of development projects, for the first time in the history of the University, the government approved a mega-development project of more than Rs. 4 billion, which includes the establishment of a campus at Ahmadpur East. New teaching blocks were activated for the Faculty of Management Sciences and the College of Nursing.

Four new hostels for 1000 students became operational. More than 22 new buses joined the University fleet, launching a special bus service for students from towns 60 km away.

The University has shown exceptional performance in the field of research. For this purpose, the University has allocated Rs. 100 million from its own resources. The marketing of cotton seeds generates an annual income of Rs. 100 million. In addition, all kinds of flowers, vegetables and fruits will be available for domestic and foreign markets due to the Cut Flower, Vegetable and Fruit Center. The university has launched a new Testing Service which will generate crores of rupees in revenue. For the first time, the university appeared on the global horizon and became one of the top 500 universities in Asia according to the Time Higher education rankings. More than 19 societies were established for students.

In order to put into practice the penmanship of local poets and writers, the University published and unveiled their books. Khawaja Ghulam Fareed and Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Chair Management Committees were formed. During Covid-19, Islamia University of Bahawalpur emerged as an active university where educational activities continued uninterrupted physically and online and a lot of work was done in community service. A Directorate was set up to promote the tourism sector and the Cholistan Jeep Rally and Bahawalpur Trade Fair were launched. The university arranged training for more than 300 journalists from Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Rahim Yar Khan. Promoting relations with Chinese and Egyptian universities, the CPEC project included the intercrop corn and soybean project of Sichuan and the Islamic University. 20 students of the university will go to China every year to do a PhD. Punjab government's 2.5 MW solar power project has been completed and a chip design centre is being set up.

The Federal government has established a successful youth centre at the University. Similarly, a major IT Markaz and e-Rozgar Markaz was possible. Special attention was paid to the health sector and more than 22,000 students were vaccinated against hepatitis. Hepatitis and Covid-19 vaccination centres were established at the university. Increased sports facilities include the construction of indoor sports facilities, a gym and a new cricket stadium.