AIOU to open four new campuses

FAISALABAD, Faisalabad Allam Iqbal Open University Regional Director has said that a purpose built regional campus of the Allam Iqbal Open University will be completed within a couple of months.

He was talking to reporters at a talk show "Bil-Mushafa" aired by the Radio Pakistan Faisalabad here on Tuesday.

A new state-of-the-arts campus is under construction over an area of two acres on the Millat Road near TV Booster with an estimated cost of Rs 30 million.

"It will be the best campus fully equipped with air-conditioned class rooms auditorium, digital library, audio-video laboratory, examination centres and seminar rooms", he said.

He said that the regional campus was offering 134 different programmes from matriculation to PhD level in addition to the various short courses.

Present number of the students at the Faisalabad campus is around 85000, which will jump to 100,000 soon, he added.

Lauding the role of AIOU, he said that it was playing a key role in the promotion of the Information Technology (IT) and Master in Business Administration (MBA).

Responding to a question, he said that the AIOU was contemplating to set up four new regional campuses at Jhang, Chakwal, Sialkot and Narowal to promote education in these far-flung areas.

He said the AIOU had started some online courses and the students could download these courses on computers while sitting in their own homes. He said that the workshops up to PhD level programs were being conducted at the regional campuses while a transparent examination system had been introduced by the AIOU.

BISE announces Inter exams schedule: Intermediate Part I&II and Oriental languages examinations will commence from April 28, 2007, said a spokesman of THE Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Faisalabad.

Forms from the private candidates will be received till January 20 and the regular students can submit their forms till January 25, 2007.

However, forms with late fee can be submitted till February 06 while the Board will receive forms with triple fee till March 26, he added.

Faisalabad Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Secretary Dr Syed Riaz Hussain said that the Intermediate Part-II examination will be held according to the changed syllabus of Computer Science and Urdu.

However, the students will take exams in the remaining subjects including English Book-II according to the old syllabus, he added. Punjab Text Board has already issued a letter to the departments concerned, he added.

Nisar Mannoo dies: Nisar Ahmad Mannoo, the Faisalabad Dry Port Trust (FDPT) Senior Trustee and owner of Sumaira Fabrics, has died in India. According to his son Wisal Ahmad Mannoo, Nisar Ahmad had gone to India for a knee surgery where he breathed his last.

His dead body will reach Pakistan on Wednesday while it will be buried in Faisalabad. However, the schedule for the funeral procession will be announced later.

Meanwhile, FDPT Chairman Chaudhary Muhammad Siddique, FIEDMC Chairman Mian Muhammad Latif, Faisalabad Garments City Chairman Mukhtar Ahmad Sheikh and PTEA Chairman Mian Zahid Aslam have expressed their deep sorrow and grief over his demise.

'Rs 500m to be spent on fruit promotion': Punjab Agriculture Minister Muhammad Arshad Khan Lodhi said that the government was chalking out a comprehensive strategy to improve the agriculture sector.

He was addressing the launching ceremony of "Hisab-e-Hayat", an autobiography of the former advisor and agriculture minister Chaudhary Sultan Ali at the New Senate Hall of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad Tuesday.

He said that the agriculture would always remain a major mainstay of the national<