No Pakistani university in top 500 Times Higher Education World Rankings 2021

Not a single Pakistani university could be ranked among the first 500 universities in the World University Rankings 2021 released by the Times Higher Education (THE). There are, however, 17 Pakistani varsities in the list of top 2,000 higher education institutions, and of them, the little known Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, beat the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, to grab the first university position in Pakistan, and 510^th all over the world, whereas the Quaid-i-Azam University, which was among the top 500 varsities of the world last year, stood at 575^th position. On the international scene, the ranking, which underlined the shifting strength of higher education and research around the world, saw the UK’s University of Oxford on the top for the fifth consecutive year. Also, the US domination of the top 10 masked wider decline and mainland China's Tsinghua University became the first ever Asian university to stand out among the top 20.

 

University rankings are viewed with a greater interest among the students all over the world because students try to get admission to varsities which enhance their employment chances. Among the ranking institutions, THE World University Rankings are viewed as the most balanced and comprehensive global ranking, with 13 separate performance metrics covering the full range of core activities for research-intensive universities: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. The 2021 ranking examined over 86 million citations across more than 13.6 million research publications and included survey responses from 22,000 scholars globally.

This year’s Rankings edition has 18 countries and regions in the top 100, and 93 represented overall, demonstrating that geopolitical competition in the global knowledge economy is intensifying. Moreover, a record 1,527 institutions qualify for the 2021 edition, a 9% increase from the 2020 rankings when 1,397 institutions qualified.

 

Coming back to Pakistan, the universities have been ranked as:

 

Global Ranking No                        University

 

510                                         Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan

575                                         Quaid-i-Azam University

645                                         COMSATS University Islamabad

809                                         University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

860                                         Government College University Faisalabad

861                                         Government College Women University Faisalabad

898                                         Lahore University of Management Sciences

919                                         National University of Sciences and Technology

939                                         University of Peshawar

1951                                       Bahauddin Zakariya University

1128                                       University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore

1176                                       Government College University Lahore

1207                                       The Islamia University of Bahawalpur

1354                                       PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi

1368                                       University of the Punjab

1391                                       University of Sargodha

1499                                       University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore

 

 

Those who are looking for some international university for their higher education, can view the list of top 10 universities of the world.

 

University Name                                         Country / Region                2021 Rank

 

University of Oxford                                     United Kingdom                   1         

Stanford University                                      United States                        2         

Harvard University                                       United States                        3         

California Institute of Technology                        United States                        4         

Massachusetts Institute of Technology   United States                        5         

University of Cambridge                             United Kingdom                   6         

University of California, Berkeley             United States                        7         

Yale University                                             United States                        8         

Princeton University                                                United States                        9         

University of Chicago                                 United States                        10       

 

The list shows the US is still the higher education leader even though the UK has the biggest success story - the University of Oxford. Last year, the UK had top 20 ranked institutions and of them only five were able to improve their position in the table. Asia is emerging as knowledge power house.

 

US also sees the challenge from Asia affecting its performance. Its universities continue to perform well at the top end of the ranking, commanding the highest number of positions in the overall top 10 (8) since the rankings began, as the University of California, Berkeley, climbs 6 places, from joint 13^th to 7^th. However, 50% of the US’s top 20 performing universities from last year’s ranking fail to maintain their position. Over the past five years, the US has lost 4 positions in the overall top 200 (63 in 2016, 59 in 2021) as competition rises for the top places.

 

What should be the most concerning thing for our education managers is the rise of educational power of China, Iran and India, our three neighbours.

 

The chart speaks volume:

 

Country                     No of Universities on Rankings List

 

China                                       90

India                             62

Iran                               47                                         

Asia’s rise is fronted by mainland China’s Tsinghua University (joint 20^th), which becomes the first Asian university ever to break into the THE World University Rankings top 20 since the current methodology launched in 2011. This achievement is an indicator of the wider positive movements in higher education for mainland China, and the rest of Asia in recent years. Since 2016, mainland China has gained 5 additional places in the top 200 (2 in 2016, 7 in 2021). It has also doubled its representation in the top 100 since last year, gaining 3 additional places (6 in total). Of the 7 universities that achieved a top 200 place in 2020, 85% improved their position in 2021, as mainland China continues to challenge the world’s very best.

In total, there are 16 Asian universities in the top 100, the highest total for Asia since the rankings began. Mainland China’s Fudan University (joint 70^th), Zhejiang University (joint 94^th), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (100^th, and South Korea’s Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) (96^th), all move into the elite group. Of those 16 institutions, 13 of them either improved or maintained their position from last year, demonstrating the rising competition from Asia at the expense of western higher education systems.

 

Phil Baty, chief knowledge officer at THE, says:

 

“We have observed the rise of Asia in the world rankings for several years now, but this year marks a major milestone, as mainland China’s Tsinghua University disrupts the traditional domination of western universities at the top of the table, breaking into the top 20 for the first time, and as mainland China doubles its representation in the top 100.

 

“This new ranking provides further clear evidence of a shift in the balance of power in the global knowledge economy from the established higher education systems in the west to those in parts of the east. This trend is likely to accelerate further as the coronavirus pandemic heralds a perfect storm of huge challenges for primarily western universities, particularly those in the US and UK, who face the very real risk of losing significant  international student talent, and the billions of dollars in fees that they bring. In the longer term, possibly permanent shifts in the global flow of academic talent that has traditionally fuelled the elite institutions of the US and UK could create real challenges.

 

While the universities at the very top of the table, with long histories of success and prestige, will prove hard to unseat, these factors, combined with the effects of a possible deep and long-lasting global recession and its likely impact on university funding levels, could herald the start a dramatic re-balancing of the global knowledge economy.”

 

 

View the full THE World University Rankings 2021:

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2021/world-ranking

 

View the full THE World University Rankings 2021 methodology:

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2021-methodology

 

 

1.    Summary Results and Tables

 

 

Top 200

Rank	University Name	Country / Region
1	University of Oxford	United Kingdom
2	Stanford University	United States
3	Harvard University	United States
4	California Institute of Technology	United States
5	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	United States
6	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
7	University of California, Berkeley	United States
8	Yale University	United States
9	Princeton University	United States
10	University of Chicago	United States
11	Imperial College London	United Kingdom
12	Johns Hopkins University	United States
13	University of Pennsylvania	United States
14	ETH Zurich	Switzerland
15	University of California, Los Angeles	United States
16	UCL	United Kingdom
17	Columbia University	United States
18	University of Toronto	Canada
19	Cornell University	United States
=20	Tsinghua University	China
=20	Duke University	United States
22	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	United States
23	Peking University	China
24	Northwestern University	United States
25	National University of Singapore	Singapore
26	New York University	United States
27	London School of Economics and Political Science	United Kingdom
28	Carnegie Mellon University	United States
29	University of Washington	United States
30	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
31	University of Melbourne	Australia
32	LMU Munich	Germany
33	University of California, San Diego	United States
34	University of British Columbia	Canada
35	King’s College London	United Kingdom
=36	Karolinska Institute	Sweden
=36	The University of Tokyo	Japan
38	Georgia Institute of Technology	United States
39	University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
40	McGill University	Canada
41	Technical University of Munich	Germany
42	Heidelberg University	Germany
43	École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne	Switzerland
44	University of Texas at Austin	United States
45	KU Leuven	Belgium
46	Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris	France
47	Nanyang Technological University, Singapore	Singapore
48	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	United States
49	University of Wisconsin-Madison	United States
50	Washington University in St Louis	United States
=51	University of Manchester	United Kingdom
=51	University of Sydney	Australia
53	University of Southern California	United States
=54	Kyoto University	Japan
=54	Boston University	United States
=56	Chinese University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
=56	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology	Hong Kong
=56	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	United States
59	Australian National University	Australia
60	Seoul National University	South Korea
61	Brown University	United States
=62	The University of Queensland	Australia
=62	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands
=64	University of California, Davis	United States
=64	Monash University	Australia
66	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
67	UNSW Sydney	Australia
68	University of California, Santa Barbara	United States
69	McMaster University	Canada
=70	Fudan University	China
=70	Leiden University	Netherlands
72	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands
=73	University of Montreal	Canada
=73	University of Zurich	Switzerland
=75	Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin	Germany
=75	Utrecht University	Netherlands
77	University of Warwick	United Kingdom
=78	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands
=78	University of Tübingen	Germany
=80	University of Groningen	Netherlands
=80	Humboldt University of Berlin	Germany
=80	Ohio State University (Main campus)	United States
83	University of Freiburg	Germany
84	University of Copenhagen	Denmark
=85	Emory University	United States
=85	University of Minnesota	United States
=87	École Polytechnique	France
=87	University of Science and Technology of China	China
=87	Sorbonne University	France
90	University of Maryland, College Park	United States
91	University of Bristol	United Kingdom
=92	University of Basel	Switzerland
=92	University of Glasgow	United Kingdom
=94	Purdue University West Lafayette	United States
=94	Zhejiang University	China
96	Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)	South Korea
97	National Taiwan University	Taiwan
=98	University of California, Irvine	United States
=98	University of Helsinki	Finland
100	Shanghai Jiao Tong University	China
=101	Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU)	South Korea
=101	Dartmouth College	United States
=103	Ghent University	Belgium
=103	Lund University	Sweden
105	Michigan State University	United States
106	Aarhus University	Denmark
=107	University of Birmingham	United Kingdom
=107	RWTH Aachen University	Germany
109	University of Bern	Switzerland
110	Queen Mary University of London	United Kingdom
=111	Nanjing University	China
=111	Uppsala University	Sweden
=111	Vanderbilt University	United States
=114	University of Bonn	Germany
=114	Penn State (Main campus)	United States
116	Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam	Netherlands
117	University of Virginia (Main campus)	United States
=118	University of Adelaide	Australia
=118	Free University of Berlin	Germany
120	Georgetown University	United States
=121	Maastricht University	Netherlands
=121	University of Sheffield	United Kingdom
=121	Case Western Reserve University	United States
=124	Rice University	United States
=124	University of Arizona	United States
126	City University of Hong Kong	Hong Kong
=127	University of Oslo	Norway
=127	University of Southampton	United Kingdom
129	Hong Kong Polytechnic University	Hong Kong
130	University of Göttingen	Germany
=131	University of Alberta	Canada
=131	University of Colorado Boulder	United States
=133	University of York	United Kingdom
=133	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh campus	United States
135	University of Hamburg	Germany
=136	Lancaster University	United Kingdom
=136	University of Paris	France
=136	Radboud University Nijmegen	Netherlands
139	The University of Western Australia	Australia
=140	University of Mannheim	Germany
=140	Technical University of Berlin	Germany
=140	Ulm University	Germany
=140	University of Würzburg	Germany
=140	Indiana University	United States
=145	University of Cologne	Germany
=145	University of Ottawa	Canada
=147	University of Rochester	United States
=147	University of Auckland	New Zealand
=149	Durham University	United Kingdom
=149	University of Geneva	Switzerland
151	Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)	South Korea
=152	Pompeu Fabra University	Spain
=152	TU Dresden	Germany
=152	University of Florida	United States
=155	University of Cape Town	South Africa
=155	Trinity College Dublin	Republic of Ireland
=155	Tufts University	United States
=158	Bielefeld University	Germany
=158	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
=160	University of Leeds	United Kingdom
=160	University of Sussex	United Kingdom
=160	University of Technology Sydney	Australia
163	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
=164	Université Catholique de Louvain	Belgium
=164	University of Vienna	Austria
166	Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey	United States
=167	University of Bologna	Italy
=167	Korea University	South Korea
169	University of Alabama at Birmingham	United States
=170	University of Notre Dame	United States
=170	University of Antwerp	Belgium
=170	University of Leicester	United Kingdom
=170	Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies – Pisa	Italy
=174	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
=174	Lomonosov Moscow State University	Russian Federation
=176	Northeastern University	United States
=176	Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)	South Korea
=178	University of Aberdeen	United Kingdom
=178	Newcastle University	United Kingdom
=178	Paris-Saclay University	France
181	Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa	Italy
182	Autonomous University of Barcelona	Spain
183	Stockholm University	Sweden
=184	Arizona State University (Tempe)	United States
=184	University of Canberra	Australia
186	Queensland University of Technology	Australia
=187	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands
=187	George Washington University	United States
=187	Technical University of Denmark	Denmark
=187	Yonsei University (Seoul campus)	South Korea
=191	Cardiff University	United Kingdom
=191	University of Gothenburg	Sweden
=191	University of Lausanne	Switzerland
=191	Tel Aviv University	Israel
=195	Macquarie University	Australia
=195	University of Münster	Germany
197	Texas A&M University	United States
=198	University of Barcelona	Spain
=198	University of Erlangen-Nuremberg	Germany
=200	University of Calgary	Canada
=200	University of East Anglia	United Kingdom
=200	Queen’s University Belfast	United Kingdom

Table source: THE

The return of Nawaz Sharif - Imran Khan should tell the truth

 

The Imran Khan government is showing the level of seriousness to bring back Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan from the UK as it was earlier determined to send the convicted PML-N leader abroad just a year ago on medical grounds.

The matter was discussed in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to use every possible forum to repatriate his chief rival to Pakistan. The issue attracted Imran Khan’s attention when a picture went viral online where Nawaz Sharif is seen walking worriless on a London street with his son, Hassn Nawaz, also a wanted person in Pakistani courts.  Moreover, federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has stated on the record several times that the release of Nawaz Sharif and later his departure to the UK has damaged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s narrative on strict accountability.

In the fresh cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan has discussed the ordeal of bringing Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan and in this regard, he asked his Adviser on Accountability Shahzad Akbar and Law Minister Farogh Naseem to use every possible forum and option to meet the task.

Why is this sudden U-turn in Mr Khan’s views as earlier he was willing to allow Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari to get medical treatment and now he wants to see Nawaz Sharif in jail. It is, however, strange to see that certain cabinet members asked the prime minister to allow Mr Sharif to stay in the UK for his medical treatment as that would also be good for politics.

This point can be debated.

Several people may agree with this point, and several others may just laugh.

The fact, however, either side may not differ is Nawaz Sharif needs to justify his stay in London and he needs to prove his illness case. Month after month, the PML-N has been submitting medical reports which lack any medical substance. Earlier in February last, the Punjab government showed its dissatisfaction with the reports presented by the party and subsequently, the provincial cabinet did not extend the bail granted on medical grounds to the former prime minister.

This is the time Nawaz Sharif returned to Lahore immediately from London. His initial days will be in Kot Lakhpat jail. He has a good team of lawyers.

Civil society loves him publicly, though what it says about the former prime minister in private conversations is another debate.

The media love him too. What he did to the media and the people through PEMRA, PECA and other laws is another debate.

The law loves him.

History will dub it nothing short of a miracle that a convicted person, serving jail terms in Al-Azizia mill case, was released on bail for eight weeks by the Islamabad High Court on October 29, 2019 for treatment abroad. Later, bail was extended for a further eight weeks. Again, bail was to be automatically extended, therefore it was extended for 16 weeks, says Law Minister Raja Basharat.

These weeks have passed weeks, weeks ago but Mr Sharif is roaming on London streets.

The government should go to courts and plead the case.

Before that it should go to the public and explain the reasons for being too lenient towards Nawaz Sharif.

Shahzad Akbar has already spoken the fact.

That it was the agriculture department that lent NRO to the Sharif family.

History will judge them differently if Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif and the mehkma ziraat also speak up.  

 

 

How Muharram mourning activities boost up economy in Pakistan

 The 10-day Muharram mourning days stimulates the economy in Pakistan.

According to rough estimates, Rs300 to 500 billion is spent on different rituals of the mourning – majalis, mourning processions, security, upkeep of imambargahs, procession routes and ziarat, and last but not least langar.

Religion-driven activities have a great economic touch, be it Eids, Haj, Umra, Christmas, fasting and Muharram.  

The fact that Muharram boosts up the economy is shocking for many people as it is contrary to the widespread belief that the economy suffers blows because of the prevalent road blockades and holidays on Muharram 9 and 10. Those holding the notion that Muharram is an anti-economy period are right because soon after the passage of Eidul Azha, the first and foremost thing on the mind of the government of the time is the security of the first 10 days of Muharram. These are the days when the commemoration of the martyrdom of the grandson of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad is marked across the country. The event needs heavy security because of the fierce sectarian divide. Almost every district arranges special police contingents and security plans the enhanced security of the mourners and their venues. On Muharram 9 and 10, almost all roads are blocked and there is no market open. Only mourners are seen on roads invoking the blessings of the martyrs of Karbala, chanting ‘Ya Hussain’ amid nohas.

The massive mourning and the closure of the whole country, however, does not halt the economic activities of the country. When people come out of their houses to pay their tributes to the martyrs of Karbala, this sets in the biggest turnover in economy.

Factors stimulating economy

With the sight of Muharram moon, majalis begin almost in every part of the country. Majalis – mixed (where male orators recite majlis, while the audience is mixed) and women-only (where a woman orator address women) – are held in imambargas as well as insides houses.

In Gandhi Park, a locality in Gulberg II, almost 20 houses are arranging women-only majalis, says Syed Ali Shah, a resident of the area. The males of the area go to Masjid Muhammadi on Hali Road for majlis. Away from Lahore, in Jhang’s area of Athhara Hazari, 15 majalis venues are arranged in one union council. While a women-only majlis inside a house is arranged by a single family, events in Muhammadi Masjid or majalis in Athhara Hazari are arranged by associations of people. The expenditures of one venue costs Rs1 million to Rs 3 million, depending on the fee of the orator (zakir or allama), lighting, amplifier, security, a little repair of the imambargah, preparation of ziarat and a daily langar.

The most important chunk of the expenses is orators’ fee. On average, an orator is given Rs500,000 fee for their 10-day hourly address. In certain cases, the zakir or allama in high demand charge is Rs 3 million to Rs 5 million.

According to Tanveer Abbas, of Athhara Hazari, Zakir Mushtaq Shah, of Jhang, is a crowd puller zakir and is high in demand in Punjab. Tanveer Abbas has interest in the affairs of majalis and he says Zakir Mushtaq Shah charged Rs 3 million per imambargah for the 10-day service last year and this year, he has been booked for Rs 5 million per place. Like Zakir Mushtaq Shah, the other zakirs charging in millions include Zakir Waseem Baloch, Nasir Bajara Wala, Rabbani Shah, Qazi Waseem, Saqlain Ghallu, Shaukat Raza Shaukat and so on.

The other major part of the Muharram expenses is the preparation and running expenses of the imambargah. Syed Abis Gardezi looks after Shah Gerdez imambargah affairs in Multan. According to him, this year the event cost them Rs 500,000 in terms of lights, repair, amplifier, banners, and stage from where the orator addresses the majlis.

Langar is a must part of every majlis. Catering services providers hires extra staff for Muharram.

“We get more orders of degs during Muharram from a peak wedding season,” says Muhammad Sadiq, the proprietor of the catering services in Gulberg II.

During Muharram, people order and distribute Haleem and Biryani.

This year, Rs 7,500 is the rate of a Haleem deg and Rs 6,500 a Biryani deg.

One haleem deg serves 300 people if served on a naan, while a biryani deg can feed 100 people.

Sadiq said he was getting 50 to 100 deg orders a day for Muharram. For Muharram 9, he will cook 180 degs to be served at the procession of Karishan Nagar.

Thousands of people give away langar at procession and their budget runs in hundreds of thousands.

Other than the major distributors of langar, several individuals distribute langar in the shape of bread, juice box, water bottle, rice, qeemay wala naan, aalo wala naan, paratha, fruit, milk and so on. Bakers and confectioners display their ads announcing special deals for Muharram niaz.

During Muharram’ majalis, ziarat are taken out at the end of a majlis. Of them, zuljinnah is prominent for it is taken out on Muharram 10. The upkeep of Zuljinnah is a constant and expensive affair. Zuljinnah depicts the ride of Hazrat Imam Hussain in his final hour at the battle of Karbala. It wears a saddle, an embodied sheet, traditional shields, a wreath of flowers, a sword, a crown and a rein. Besides Zuljinnah, the other ziarat include Ta’zia, alam (flag of Hazrat Abbas), Pangora (cradle in the memory of Hazrat Asghar, the six-month-old son of Imam Husain), saij and so on.

Each ziarat is decorated with sheets and ornaments. A Ta’azia is prepared Rs 100,000 to Rs 1 million, mostly in Chiniot.

The last but not least is the black colour that is the part of Muharram. Before the Muharram month, every Shia takes it binding upon themselves to get a new black dress. Shopkeepers in Ichhra and Anarkali say they buy bulk of lawns in black colour. Recently, certain brands have also seen an occasion in Muharram to do a roaring business and have started introducing dresses in black which can match Muharram as well as afterword. Many people prefer simple clothes with black pattern and design.

Also, mourners buy flogging knives fort chest beating and many try to fly to Karbala to spend the mourning days there.

All these factors stimulate the economy.

 

Case of two bottles of liquor takes nine years to be settled

Screen beauty Atiqa Odho must be a happy woman today as she has been acquitted of the charges of smuggling two bottles of liquor into Pakistan in August 2011.

The verdict, which was delivered in August 2020, after a good nine years has become a talk of the town. She won innocence after a long ordeal.

Here is a brief data on her case.

Charge

The Humsafar star came into spotlight when she was reportedly caught with importing two bottles of foreign liquor in her luggage while she landed in Rawalpindi from a Karachi-to-Rawalpindi PIA flight. During the check out, customs officials found two fine quality bottles of liquor in her luggage. She was detained by the ASF officials, however, she was released on the alleged intervention of an influential person’s call. That time, she was the office-bearer of the All Pakistan Muslim League, led by retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Criminal Case

Once the matter hit the media headlines, the proactive Supreme Court of that time came up with a suo moto on the issue. Then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took interest in the case - the reported recovery of bottles, her brief arrest and release despite recovery of two bottles of wine from her luggage. Once the top court invoked suo moto, the police and Customs officials proceeded against the actress and lodged a complaint with the Airport Police Station.

Trial

The first thing Ms Odho was to get an interim bail from the court of Rawalpindi additional district and sessions court judge. The police had registered a case under Hudood as well as the Pakistan Penal Code.

Total number of hearing days                                           190 days

The number of times Ms Odho attended hearing                      100 days

Number of judges who heard the case                            Three

The total duration of the case                                                   Nine years

She moved the court three times claiming innocence but every time, the court did not take up the plea.

Later, she moved the Supreme Court seeking the conclusion of her case.

Verdict

Rawalpindi Civil Judge Yasir Chaudry acquitted the Sitara Aur Mehrunisa fame actress of illegally importing two bottles of foreign liquor in her bag.

The judge noted that there is no proof that the liquor was seized from Ms Odho.

Reaction

Ms Odho is very happy at the outcome of the case, though justice delayed is denied. She says the nine years were very painful and she faced severe societal and professional setbacks. She, however, says that she had full trust in the judicial system of the country.

Lessons to be learned

The case is gaining prominence because of the nine years delay. The thing to be pondered is hundreds of thousands of such cases have been lingering in courts for decades and their disposal should also get attention. Retired chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa worked hard to clear the backlog of superior courts through e-courts and action against false testimony. Now, the bar and the bench can take the cause forward and clear the courts of the backlog.

 

 

World class universities’ free courses for Pakistani people

Sidra Batool wanted to have a career in videography and photography but she had no money to get proper training to polish her skills and compete with experienced photographers. She contacted the National College of Arts and some other private institutions to enroll in short related courses but could not make to them because of odd timing and higher charges. Sidra, being a schoolteacher, hardly found time and energy to reach the NCA at 2pm to attend the class when her school would be over at 2pm. She gave up the idea of becoming a videographer and photographer.

This was back in 2008.

In 2018 she learnt advanced techniques of videography and photography from famous videographers of the world and also has earned a certificate.

Sidra did so without spending even a single penny, and the completed courses at her own pace and convenience.

“If you have a computer and an Internet connection and can read and write English, you can have access to free online courses from world’s renowned universities,” says Sidra, who is now a multimedia director with a news website, and earns a salary in six figures.  

Sidra’s niece Fatima is an O level student. While her class fellows would spend almost Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month on tuition of math, chemistry, biology, physics and even history, Fatima found plenty of tutorial material on Khan Academy, a free online course website, where lessons on school subjects are offered free of cost. She did all elusive math problems with the help of Khan Academy video lessons.

During the lockdown stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, people all over the world had plenty of time for being at home, and they took such courses to grow their knowledge as well.

While students and adult learners may find a good number of educational and vocational videos, the basic difference between the course websites and Youtube lessons is that dedicated online courses offer a complete package – course material (reading, videos, assignments, interactive discussion forums, interaction with teachers and combined projects, etc.) whereas Youtube videos only offer a one-way lecture on a topic with a limited scale.

In 2013, I met Bilal Musharraf, the son of retired General Pervez Musharraf  in Doha at one of the world’s biggest annual events on education — WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) 2013 where he delivered his presentation on ‘Education for anyone, anywhere’. At that time, he was the Dean of Translation with US-based Khan Academy. This is the time I came to know about this a not-for-profit website that aims at changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. Since then, I have been tracking online course programmes and have completed more than 100 online courses on language, journalism, parenting, history, online marketing, public speaking, research and so on. These courses were offered by US universities.

Based on my consistent chase of the online education world, here I offer a list of recommended high quality sites that offer free courses.

KHAN ACADEMY

  Since 2004, the site has uploaded more than 100,000 lessons on mathematics, history, healthcare, medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, macroeconomics, microeconomics, computer science, and even history and art. These videos have been watched more than 1,000 million times. More than 10 million learners use the website every month from 200 countries and more than a billion practice exercises have been solved on the platform. The website has translated and uploaded more than 1,000 videos in Urdu on YouTube.

COURSERA

 The website with American and European universities and organizations offer four to six weeks courses on a wide variety of topics.

OPEN CULTURE ONLINE COURSES

The site has thousands of lectures, videos and podcasts from universities around the world, such as England, Australia, Wales and many state universities around the United States.

UDEMY

Udemy’s free courses offer access to customized courses where learners can work with top professors and schools. The content is of top quality which can be accessed free as well. Advanced courses are offered on payment.

 

There is a long list: Academic Earth, edX, Alison (highly recommended), iTunesU Free Courses, Harvard, Open Yale Courses, UC Berkeley Class Central, MIT OpenCourseWare, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative, Codecademy, Code, University of London Podcasts, University of Oxford Podcasts, BBC Podcasts, TED-Ed, LessonPaths, Memrise, National Geographic Kids, and Fun Brain.

Pakistani online influencer Rehan Allahwala (http://www.rehanschool.com/) and Pakistani-American entrepreneurial guru Muhammad Siddique (https://gsefoundation.org/) have also brought about great changes to many lives through their Pakistan-only programs.

Once you have read this piece, browse a couple of sites mentioned above, enroll in one program of your interest and take your first step towards online education. Good luck!

 

Buzdar is the best CM who is carrying out development across province & ...

A farmer of five acres can earn up to Rs 50 million through government’s tree plantation scheme. How?

 

The Punjab government has come up with a landmark public-private partnership plan under which incentives and facilities are being offered to private landowners to fill their vacant spaces with trees and earn exchequers in million. 

 

The five-year partnership earns Rs 5 million to 6 million per acre to a farmer on average.  

Beside monetary benefits, plantation is the most effective way to turn the tide of climate change.  

 

How does the government help landowners for afforestation?  

 

The government bears 70 per cent of charges for land leveling, and irrigation system installation and provides subsidized plants, seeds and saplings, free consultancy for better growth of trees and marketing strategies to sell timbers for five years.  

Usually, a plant is provided at Rs 2 and two saplings for Re 1.  

The government binds the party to nurture and cultivate the forest area for five years. During the five years of the agreement, the farmer cannot cut or sell plants. During this time, the farmer will be bound to irrigate the forest and take care of it.  

In case a plant does not grow, dies or is eaten up by passing by cattle, farmers can plant a replacement tree to fill the space.  

After five years, when plants are fully grown trees, the landowner can sell trees for a better return.  

 

Who can benefit from the scheme?  

 

Any landowner who has five acres to 15 acres can apply for the scheme.  

 

How to apply for the scheme?  

 

A landowner needs to write an application to the forest division seeking help for afforestation on their land on a paper. They need to attach the following documents with the application: 

• A copy of CNIC  
• Photo copy of land owner deed (fard malkiat) 

 

 

The economy of the scheme 

 

Under the scheme, it is advised that a farmer plants 1,200 trees per acre. The cost of the plants will be Rs 2,400. For five acres, the cost will be Rs 12,000. 

A diesel-powered tube well costs up to Rs 80,000, of which the government will provide 70 per cent of the price.  

A solar-fired tube well costs Rs250,000 to 350,000 and again the similar arrangements are in place.  

Average monthly expenses for a five-acre forest are Rs 25,000 – Rs 15,000 for a farm labourer and Rs 10,000 for diesel.  

For five years (60 months), expenses will be Rs 1.5 million altogether. This is despite the fact that in the last two years, irrigation needs diminish as trees are self-reliant to get water through their roots.   

 

A five-year-old tree is sold at Rs 5,000 to 10,000, depending on the rates of timber at that time. If the price is taken at Rs 5,000, and the number of trees 10,000, the projected income will be Rs 50 million. Take out average expenses of Rs 1.5 million, a farmer can get away with Rs 48 million. Not a bad deal.  

 

Which plants can be grown for a better return?  

It depends on the region, climate and land quality.  

These plants can be grown almost all over Punjab:  

نیم or Azadirachta indica  

شیشم یا ٹاہلی or Dalbergia sissoo  

املتاس or Cassia fistula  

سکھ چین or Millettia pinnata  

کیکر or keekar  

پیپل  or pipal  

آم  or mango tree  

مالٹا or kinnow 

جامن or jaman- 

زیتون or Olive  

شہتوت or mulberry  

بیری or berry  

 

The best season to plant trees  

Tree plantation seasons fall in January to March and July and August.  

 

Planation can be a best mean for income generation besides a best gift to local environment.