HEC taking steps to promote social sciences IN PAKISTAN - Dr. SOHAIL NAQVI SAYS ON THE INAUGURAL CEREMONY OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE AT GCU 

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Pakistan education planning could not focus on social sciences for three decades and we lost the whole generation but now Higher Education Commission (HEC) is taking all possible measures in order to promote social sciences and enrolment in universities from to 4 to 7 percent. All out funds are being mobilized in order to provide maximum foreign scholarships to provide better faculty and ameliorate the quality of education in the country. For this purpose, HEC has developed a new program of 1500 foreign scholarships which has been sent for approval to the higher authorities. It was expressed by the Executive Director HEC Dr. Sohail H. Naqvi in the inaugural  ceremony of the one day national conference on the “State of Social Sciences in Pakistan”  organized by faculty of Social Sciences GCU Lahore in collaboration with HEC Pakistan held in the Bokhari Auditorium of the GCU. He also lamented the low quality out put of colleges on account of declining standard of their graduates and told that HEC was improving the standards of curriculum and faculty by improving access in research and moulding curriculum in line with the national and global market needs and that merit based scholarships were being replaced by need based scholarships. He further said that a lot of scholarships for post doctorate are available but HEC doesn’t find suitable candidates for them. As many as 316 people have already been sent to various foreign universities for post doctorate.

The Vice Chancellor GCU Prof. Dr. Khalid Aftab in his welcome address said that new universities in Pakistan, in recent years, have started defining their goals against the demands of time which is very harmful for the universities, as the primary role of the universities is to act as agent of social change and ensure cultural enlightenment. He stressed on launching of the  skill oriented programmes as  the greatest challenges for the dynamic universities is to strike a balance between the demands of the business world and that of the society. He expressed his concerns about the direction of the education and hoped that education would resolve the conflict between freedom and security and integrate morality and life. He said education is not confined just to the sciences rather it is lightening of fire in the minds through exposure of students to culture, literature, music and lot more.

He also criticized the “Policy of Guided Development” from above and declared it a barrier against institutional growth. “The real problem with Guided Model is that it dose not lead to an integrated and holistic institutional development”, he added.

Dr. Inayat-ullah, President Council of Social Sciences Islamabad made his presentation on the “state of social sciences in Pakistan 1947-2001”. The inaugural session was chaired by Dr. Pervaiz Tahir, Mehboob-ul-Haq Professor of Economics GCU Lahore.

The inaugural session was followed by research papers presentation session which was chaired by Prof. Dr. Zahid Mehmood Director Clinical Psychology GCU, Lahore. Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Chairman SS&H Development Committee HEC and Former Governor State Bank of Pakistan, while speaking on “Public Policy and Social Sciences” talked about public policy challenges, governance deficit, distributional inequalities, identity crises, food-water-energy crises and responsibility of Social Scientists. He said that social science discipline might have little market value but they generate externalities and lay the foundation for a socially and morally conscientious citizenship and humanistic understanding of the state, society, culture and institutions. He also said that social sciences courses should be mandated for even students of engineering, medical, agricultural, physical and biological sciences and business administration.

Shahid Javed Burki from Washington D.C, USA presented his paper on “Significance of the Development of Social Sciences for Effective Public Policy”. Prof. Mirza Athar Baig spoke on “The Possibility of indigenous theorization in social sciences: a Transition from Trans-disciplinary to Post-disciplinary Paradigm”

The third session consisted of discussants and was chaired by Prof. Dr. Anjum Saleemi and participated by Dr. Muhammad Waseem (LUMS), Dr. Muhammad Anwar (SSRC), Dr. Saba Gull Khattak (SDPI), Dr. Najma Najam (PU), Dr. Tahir Kamran and Dr. Asir Ajmal (GCU Lahore). The prominent participants of the conference included Sartaj Aziz, Prof. Dr. Sohail Ahmed Khan, Prof. Ahmed Hussain, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khalid Pervaiz, Prof. Dr. M.A. Kashmiri, Sahibzada Faisal Khurshid and Prof. Dr. Kausar Sohail. A large number of students and faculty from all the public and private universities attended this conference.

(28-03-2008)

KHALID AHMED, A DISTINGUISHED  RAVIAN DELIVERS ON SECTARIANISM

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Khalid Ahmad, a renowned journalist and intellectual also delivered a special lecture here in the PG Library of the GCU on sectarianism under “distinguished lecture series” organized by department of history.

He covered all aspects of sectarianism along with its background describing its causes and effects on Muslim unity. He also highlighted different forces working behind the phenomena leading to disunity of Muslim Ummah.  He also mentioned inter-state ideological rivalry between Arabs and Iran as one of the major cause of widespread of seeds of sectarianism.

 (05-11-2007)

History Departments arranges a lecture on the role of Pak Air Force in Pak-India 1965 WAr

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During the 1965 Pak-India war, the Pakistani nation stood united against the enemy and extended all out support to Pak troops which resulted in the moral and ground victory of Pakistani forces in the battle field against India. These views were expressed by a Squadron Leader® Cecil Chaudhry, a pilot figfhter in 1965 war while delivering a special lecture in perspective of 1965 Pak-India war at the Fazal-e-Hussain Hall of the GC University Lahore here Saturday.

He said that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter pilots exhibited higher professional standards with accurate skills and demonstrated air war performance with the best of their abilities which subsequently catered heavy losses on the enemy.

Cecil Chaudhry while elaborating the events during the war paid high tributes to his colleagues Sarfraz Raffiqi, Younas Hussain and M.M. Alam whom he considered these personalities as highly skilled, committed officers of the Pakistan Air Force and had been instrumental in damaging the moral and ground heavy losses to the enemy.

He bewailed over the fact that the Pakistani nation is divided manifold today whereas during the 1965 war, the nation was united irrespective of caste, color or creed.  At the end of the day he said, Pakistan Air Force achieved its goal by defending its motherland.

The chairperson of the history department of GCU Prof. Dr. Tahir Kamran thanked the guest speaker for his informative lecture.

(24-09-2007)

CALL FOR PAPERS (THE HISTORIAN-A BIANNUAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF HISTORY DEPTT GCU)

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The Department of History, GCU, Lahore invites research papers for publication in The Historian, a referred bi-annual research journal. The next issue is primarily intended to examine the relationship between culture and colonialism. The papers should examine the institutional and pedagogical practices in the colonial Punjab. We would keenly welcome theoretically innovative papers analyzing the nexus of culture and the legacies of imperialism in the contemporary (Indian & Pakistani) Punjab.

Possible areas of study may be:

Education as a Colonizing Technology

Education as Cultural Capital in Contemporary Punjab

Economy as a Source of Cultural Transformation

British Bureaucracy as Cultural Elite

British Institutionalization and Cultural Homo/heterogeneity

The contributors may also discuss other themes with the Dr.Tahir Kamran, editor, The Historian, before submitting their papers. The length of the papers should be between 8000 to 10,000 words. Please mail your CV and an abstract (400-500 words) by the 30 November 2007 to the History Department.

(11-09-2007)

TWO DAY GRADUATE HISTORY CONFERENCE ON ‘COLONIZING MINDS’

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The Department of History, GC University, Lahore invites students of BA (Hons) 2nd and 3rd Years to submit abstracts/articles for ‘Graduate History Conference’ scheduled to be held on 23rd and 24th November 2007, in the Post-Graduate Library Seminar Room, GC University, Lahore. Theme of the conference is ‘Colonizing Minds’.

Possible areas of investigation may be:

Education as a Colonizing Technology

Economy as a Source of Cultural Transformation

Bureaucracy as Cultural Elite

Institutionalization and Cultural Homo/Heterogeneity

Interested students shall submit their abstracts (between 300-400 words) to the undersigned not later than 01st of October 2007. Only short listed students will be invited to present their papers. Students are encouraged to discuss themes with Mr Irfan Waheed Usmani, Mr Tahir Jamil and Mr. Hussain Ahmad Lecturers of the department before submitting their abstracts and papers.

For further details, please contact Ms Shifa Ahmad, Admin Officer, Department of History on Ph: 111-000-010 Ext: 337, 339.

(11-09-2007)

GCU LAHORE DECLARES M.A. HISTORY PART-I RESULT

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The GC University Lahore has announced the results of M.A. History Part-I Final Examination 2007. According to a notification issued from the office of Controller of Examinations of GCU, 26 students appeared in the examination and out of them 22 students were declared successful. The pass percentage remained 84.62.

The following are the Roll Nos. of the successful candidates.

101,   102, 103, 104, 105, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 117, 120, 121, 125, 126, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134 and 135.

 (14-07-07)

WRITING AND DEBATING CONTEST ORGANIZED AMONG THREE UNIVERSITIES

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An intellectual contest between the undergraduate and the postgraduate students of Social Sciences representing three leading institutions of the country, National University of FAST, Pakistan School of Fashion Design and GCU was organized by Garret History Society of GC University Lahore.

The focus of all the presentations made on the occasion was on the topics like "Multi Dimensional Views on Pakistani Culture and Society". According to results, Ayeza Rana and Hira Salahuddin of Pakistan School of Fashion Design won the best paper and best speaker (under-graduate) categories respectively. Similarly, Amber and Khurram Aziz of GCU won the best paper and best speaker (post-graduate) categories respectively.

Addressing the students, In-charge of the society said that GC University Lahore had a long standing tradition of dissemination of knowledge through the culture of academic liberty, and much credit went to the Vice Chancellor who always came up as a potent force to encourage such academic sessions.

 (07-02-07)