Lahore, Ahead of the launch of the four-year BS (Honours) programme, the Punjab Higher Education Department has notified boards of governors in all 26 colleges selected for the ambitious plan of imparting quality education to a large student body.

The 26 selected colleges in 12 districts have been attached to seven universities and both parties are working to formally affiliate colleges’ four-year honours programme. According to the breakdown, six colleges each have been attached with the Punjab University, the University of Gujrat and the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan; and two colleges each with the Lahore College for Women University; the Islamia University Bahawalpur; the University of Sargodha and the Government College University, Faisalabad.

In the meantime, some colleges have also issued advertisements offering admission to various disciplines under four-year BS (Honours) degree programmes. The BoGs will now prepare rules and regulations for the programme. However, for their convenience, the higher education department has already drafted a document while improving the already available rules and regulations of the autonomous Queen Mary College.

According to the notification issued on Tuesday, the respective colleges’ 16-member BoGs comprise nine official members and seven non-official members.

The provincial education minister will be the chairman of all 26 selected colleges’ BoGs, while the commissioner of the division concerned will act as BoG vice chairman in respective colleges in a division. The principal of the college concerned will act as secretary.

The official members of each selected college are: Punjab higher education secretary or his nominee not below the rank of deputy secretary, Punjab finance secretary or his nominee not below the rank of deputy secretary, vice chancellor of affiliating university or his nominee not below the rank of professor, Director Education (Colleges) of the division concerned, district coordination officer, and one member of faculty to be nominated by the Board of Governors.

The BoGs non-official members include educationists, industrialists, philanthropists, retired judges, retired army personnel and retired bureaucrats.

In Lahore division, there are six colleges selected for the programme. The Government Islamia College, Civil Lines, non-official members are: Majeed Nizami, old student and chief editor of Nawa-i-Waqt Group; Dr Safdar Mahmood, ex-federal secretary education; Dr Maqbool Shahid, philanthropist and ex-director INMOL, Lahore; Tariq Hamid, industrialist and ex-chairman Wapda and ex-president Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Amjad Islam Amjad, old student, poet and educationist; Dr Muhammad Sarwar, ex-faculty member, writer and ex-head of political science department of Government College University, Lahore; and Dr Khwaja Muhammad Zikriya, professor emeritus at Punjab University.

The non-official members nominated on the BoG of the Government College of Science, Wahdat Road, are: Fakhar Lodhi of National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences, Lahore; Razzaq Ahmad, chairman of Mataline Industries (Pvt.) Limited; Khalid Ahmad, chairman of a welfare society; Malik Muhammad Hussain, ex-project director of Teachers Training Project, Asian Development Bank based in Lahore; Sarfraz Ahmad, chief executive of Nobels, Gulberg-III, Lahore; Dr Zafar Iqbal Jadoon, professor of administrative sciences at Punjab University; and Dr Muhammad Saleem, professor emeritus at Punjab University.

The MAO College BOG’s non-official members are: former minister Syed Sajjad Ali Shah; Justice Sakhi Bukhari (retired); Col Iqtidar Hussain Mirza (retired); wing commander Pervaiz Meer (retired); Punjab University’s Centre of Excellence in Solid State Physics director Prof Dr Shahzad, philanthropist Chaudhry Muhammad Riaz; and Dr Razi Abbas Shamsi, professor emeritus at Punjab University.

The Government Postgraduate College for Women, Samanabad, BoG’s non-official members are: Nasira Javaid, ex-judge Lahore High Court; Naseem Shafiq, professor retired from GCW, Samanabad; Muhammad Umer Virk, MD Hira Textile Mills; Shahzad Manzoor, director Mandhali (Peper Mill Skp.); Sofi Tariq, Sofi Industries Limited; Shahid Sethi, Taj Paper Mill Consular General Morrtious; and Prof Dr Farhat Saleemi, professor of physics at Lahore College for Women University.

The non-official members of BoG of Government Postgraduate Islamia College, for Women, Cooper Road, are: Muhammad Hussan, industrialist, Arifa Kiani, philanthropist and wife of Justice Riaz Kiani; Dr Rafique Ahmad, vice chairman Nazaria Pakistan; Tasneem Ahmad, ex-principal Islamia College Cooper Road; Seema Aziz, chairperson of CARE – an NGO; Shahnaz Akhtar, professor of economics (retired); and Prof Dr Kausar Jamal Cheema, professor of zoology at Lahore College for Women University.

The Government College for Women, Gulberg, BoG’s non-official members are: Dr Komal Shehzad, Guard Group of Industries; Mrs Laila Nusrat, CEO Bali Memorial Trust; Dr Shehla Javed Akram, president of Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry; educationist Asghar Nadeem Syed; Dr Kausar Abdullah Malik of FC College University; Dr Rahat Masud Naved, principal College of Art and Design, Punjab University and Dr Humala Khalid, professor of education at Lahore College for Women University.