MUZAFFARABAD, (Parliament Times) : The University of Azad Jammu Kashmir University (UAJK) has approved its Rs 2.86 billion budget for fiscal year 2021-22 here on Sunday.
The budget was approved at 48th meeting of the university’s Finance and Planning Committee chaired by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Muhammad Kaleem Abbasi. The budget meeting was attended by Director General (Finance) Higher Education Commission (HEC) Ghulam Nabi, Additional Secretary Finance of AJK government, Madam Nadia Sami, Registrar of the University, Professor Dr Ayesha Sohail, Director Higher Education of AJK Government, Dr Abdul Rehman and Director Finance of the university, Dr Muhammad Siddique.
Besides the chairmen of the all four faculties of university, Professor Dr Ghulam Murtaza, Professor Dr Abdul Qayyum, Professor Dr Haroon-ur-Rashid, Professor Dr Bashir-ur-Rehman Kanth, the meeting was also attended by Director QEC, Dr Ayaz Arif Khan, Director Planning & Development, Professor Dr Answar Yaseen and Additional Director Finance Syed Shifait Ali Geelani as observers.
Earlier discussing in detail the revenue and expenditure of the University and the various heads of the grant given by the Higher Education Commission, the Director Finance HEC, Ghulam Nabi and Additional Secretary Finance, Government of Azad Kashmir presented various suggestions to manage the finances.
The meeting was told that Higher Education is providing a grant of Rs 440.93 million and AJK government Rs 3.5 million to meet the development and non- development expenses of the university. The gap between income and expenses would be bridged by the university through its own resources.
The university allocated Rs 580 million for completion of ongoing development projects being executed in different campuses of the university besides Rs 40 million for new development projects. Rs 2.5 million have been earmarked for research activities and Rs one million for conferences and seminars. Addressing the meeting, DG Finance Higher Education Commission appreciated the efforts of AJK University’s management for taking crucial measures for effectively handling the financial problems, especially during the COVID-19.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Muhammad Kaleem Abbasi expressed his deep gratitude to Saudi Government, Higher Education Commission and AJK for their financial and moral support in completion of the state-of-the-art campus of the university at Chattar Kalass to house the majority of the departments administrative offices in the campus.
He said that after addressing the issue of space, the university administration will sharply focus on the improvement of quality of education and promotion of research activities in the institution of higher learning.
