Brilliant Kashmiri students make nation proud, says AJK president

Masood Khan says state universities achieved tremendous progress in recent years

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has appreciated Kashmiri students for bringing laurels to the nation by excellently performing in world-famous universities like Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.

He lauded the management of the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (UAJK) Muzaffarabad for picking the highly qualified faculty on the basis of merit and establishing a new campus of the university within a short span of time.

Addressing the 49th syndicate meeting of the UAJK at Kashmir House on Thursday, President Masood, who is also the chancellor of the university, said that it was a matter of pride particularly for the people of Azad Kashmir that the AJK University under the capable leadership of Vice-Chancellor Dr Kalim Abbasi has taken a major stride forward in raising the ranking and impact factor.

He said that of late, our universities had not only focused on the improvement of education standards but other public sector universities of the states have also enhanced interaction with the corporate sector, to facilitate the students in understanding the future needs and issues of the corporate sector.

"The close contacts between the universities and the private sector will help our students understand the priorities of the private sector and finding jobs there."

The AJK president said that the way the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in collaboration with Special Communication Organisation (SCO) had arranged online education and later online exam system for the students of far-flung areas at their homes during the coronavirus pandemic was appreciable.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Kalim Abbasi, Vice-Chancellor UAJK, said that the novel coronavirus was a gigantic challenge for us but with the help of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, we have successfully met the challenge.

He said that for the first time in the 40 years history of the university, the problems of the university's own campus and the faculty have been resolved, and now the number of faculty members has been raised from 171 to 270. "Both these factors had increased the impact factor of the university from 270 to 575 today."

He said that the incumbent president and chancellor of the university played an important role in putting all public sector universities of the liberated territory on strong footings whose mentorship, assistance, and guidance help us to introduce a culture of merit, discourage unnecessarily political interference, and help to launch of new programmes and disciplines that are compatible with the needs of the time.