HYDERABAD:The 43rd meeting of the Academic Council of the University of Sindh Jamshoro was held under the chairmanship of Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Muhammad Siddique Kalhoro. It was decided to continue Master of Arts (MA) and Master of Sciences (MSc) degree programmes in the varsity and its affiliated colleges.
The meeting unanimously approved to implement Higher Education Commission guidelines regarding supervision of only 12 scholars of MPhil and PhD as supervisor and co-supervisor by a professor.
The meeting was attended among others by Pro-Vice Chancellor of Sindh University Campus Thatta Prof. Dr Rafique Ahmed Memon, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Campus Dadu Prof. Dr Ghulam Sarwar Gachal and Registrar Dr Ghulam Muhammad Bhutto.
While addressing the participants of the meeting, the vice chancellor said that due to poverty in Sindh, not every youth could come to university for seeking higher education and they wanted to improve their education, while doing small jobs and businesses.
He said that despite the decision of Higher Education Commission, Islamabad to stop admissions to MA and MSc in the varsity and its colleges, Sindh University would continue the MA external programme in affiliated colleges and MA and MSc (Previous) programmes in the university in the larger interest of the male and female students belonging to rural areas of the province.
He said that a large number of female students belonging to the rural areas of Sindh could not come to the university for higher education due to some constraints and accommodation issues in Jamshoro, adding that girls dormitories of the varsity could house only 2000 students.
He said under such situations, it was necessary to continue the MA External programme in the affiliated colleges and the MA and MSc (Previous) programmes in the university.
Dr Kalhoro stated that the Regional Directors Colleges Mirpurkhas and Hyderabad had contacted him and said that the principals of the respective colleges were being approached by parents to continue MA external programme in the colleges for the sake of the future and career of their children as they could not afford to send their sons and daughters to the university for higher studies.
After full deliberation, the members of the meeting unanimously approved the continuation of the MA External and MA as well as MSc (Previous) Programmes in the colleges and university respectively.
The members were informed about the importance, scope and fee structure of newly launched Bachelor programmes in Poultry Farming and Management, Public Health, Coastal and Marine Sciences, English Language Teaching, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination, Data Science, Economics and Finance, Disaster Management and one-year postgraduate diploma in Digital Health. The meeting approved the fee structure of the BS degree programs starting from the academic year 2023.
The meeting also granted approval to the nomenclature of the Institute of Commerce as Institute of Commerce and Management.
The meeting was also informed about the guidelines of HEC Islamabad regarding the admissions to PhD programmes in different disciplines that only those students with a valid Graduate Assessment Test (GAT) – Subject passed from the National Testing Service (NTS) should be enrolled.
The Academic Council made it mandatory for the supervisors of MPhil and PhD in various disciplines to furnish the annual progress report of their scholars.
Several other important academic decisions were also made in the meeting.