University of Sargodha VC — a profile

LAHORE

Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad, a prominent Pakistani social scientist and former Pakistan Chair at Oxford University, has been recently appointed as vice-chancellor (VC) of University of Sargodha on a provisional basis.

According to a press release, Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad will be on deputation from Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), where he was serving as director, School of Politics and International Relations. Before resuming his service at QAU last year, he had held the prestigious position of Pakistan Chair/Quaid-i-Azam Fellow at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, the UK, for five years (2010-2015).

During this time, he was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for International Studies, Oxford University. Before joining QAU in 2005 as associate professor of international relations, he served as Vice Chair/assistant professor of international relations at Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus and as Senior Research Fellow at Area Study Centre, QAU, where he did his PhD in 1996. He was also a senior journalist before it, and worked as diplomatic correspondent and editorial assistant for different newspapers.

Buffalo breeding research: Farmer-driven proposals for collaborative research between the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore and Buffalo Research Institute have been finalised after thorough discussions in a meeting. 

The meeting was held in continuation of series of meetings conducted among Buffalo Breeders Association and scientists of respective fields.

Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Department Secretary Nasim Sadiq and UVAS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha chaired the meeting and finalised the research work proposed for the year 2017. 

Nasim Sadiq emphasised that the research should address the issues of poor farmers and provide guidelines for production improvement of local breeds. He said the L&DD Department was aggressively targeting the issue of foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus by a massive vaccination programme in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the UVAS. 

 Prof Pasha told the meeting that Pakistan was blessed with the best dairy buffalo breeds in the world.