GCU to offer salaries to MPhil, PhD students

LAHORE:Government College University (GCU) Lahore will offer salaries to postgraduate students to attract brightest minds from across the world from September, 2021.

Selected top MPhil and PhD scholars will not just get the monthly salaries but also fee waivers. MPhil students will be offered Rs 40,000 per month salary and a fee waiver, while PhD scholars will get Rs 60,000 per month plus a fee waiver. The required funds will be generated from additional seats in the undergraduate programmes.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi said “These postgraduate studentships will be highly competitive. We are replicating this model from the leading global universities which allocate a portion of their income from undergraduate programmes for strengthening postgraduate research.” He added the selected postgraduate scholars in GCU would be required to teach two courses per semester related to their research topic. “This will anchor them in their research and will bring in fresh ideas in teaching. I am glad our Academic Council has already approved this scheme,” he added.

While explaining the rationale, Prof Zaidi said, “It is unfortunate that some universities are minting money by offering self-supporting postgraduate degrees. They admit a large number of students irrespective of their competence to make the programme financially feasible. MPhil and PhD are degrees of excellence and they cannot be offered for monetary benefits alone. Offering studentships to postgraduates is part of our recent drive to improve the teaching and research at GCU.”

Prof Zaidi said, “These studentships will not be limited to Pakistani students only. GCU will also attract a good number of international students to create a global impact. No University can excel without attracting global talent. International students will come here with their knowledge, experiences and work ethics which will help to improve our teaching and research standards.”

Alzheimer’s disease: Department of Botany, GC University Lahore, has organised a one-day international webinar on “Molecular Pathways of Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.” Dr Junjun Ni, associate professor at School of Life Sciences, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China, was the guest speaker of the webinar while GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi participated in it as the chief guest and delivered welcome note and and put emphasis on organising such events of modern day issues in future as well. More than 800 individuals from across the country participated in the event and showed their great interest during the live coverage of the event on social media. During the question-answer session, Dr Junjun Ni highlighted stressed the importance of plant-based remedies in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and encouraged the plant researchers for finding such plants and remedies for treatment. He also emphasised on collaborative research in dealing the issue with Department of Botany, GC University, in future which could be a source of bringing new trends in plant sciences in line with the modern day medical applications in Pakistan.