Despite the lingering hot weather and humidity, the early Fall is a great time of year as we welcome a new class of incoming students, both to the college and the university. The number of applicants for some departments is reaching record levels, with some fields such as Computer Science, Business and Mass Communication proving to be especially popular. At the graduate level, Psychology and English have also attracted a lot of applications, making admissions in those areas even more competitive than usual.
More problematically, the Fall semester also highlights the reality that the demand for hostel space at Forman exceeds supply, a long term problem that will take time to resolve. That said, I am pleased to report that a newly renovated hostel with 85 beds on the nearby TSA/FCCU campus is opening this Fall, providing additional hostel space for female university students. Combined with a smaller hostel for female graduate students that opened its doors last year, we now have an additional 100 hostel beds available on the TSA/FCCU campus for female students. And, like our main campus, the TSA/FCCU facility is a very attractive “garden campus” with lots of green space.
Our entering classes are also as diverse as ever, including representation from many communities across the country. This year, that diversity also includes three new college students from Afghanistan and several Bachelor students from the remote Kalash valley in Chitral. In terms of numbers, the entering intermediate class exceeds 2,000 while the entering Bachelor’s class exceeds 1,000.
A summer academic enrichment program providing pre-test coaching for aspiring university students organized by our Financial Aid Office headed by Phool Shahzad has also worked hard to maintain and expand the diverse community that is so much a part of the Forman experience. This year, that program included male and female students from a wide range of areas, from the deserts of Tharparkar in the far south of Pakistan to Chitral in the far north.
This outreach program was especially intriguing and involved support from many directions including students and faculty from Chitral, Gilgit and Baltistan who reached out to members of the Kalash community in amazing ways, inviting students from that area to the Forman campus. Once on campus, a number of people including Ayesha Anwar (Guardian) and Rimesha Farooq (Assistant Guardian) along with Eileen Dass and Sheeza James from the Rector’s Office did their best to welcome the students and make them comfortable. Dr. Shahid from the Mass Communication Department who is from the Northern Areas also did much to facilitiate this program and make it possible.
I appreciated the opportunity to meet three visiting officials from the Quetta-based Balochistan Education Endowment Fund (BEEF) which provides scholarships for students from Balochistan to attend Forman. Last year, two dozen of our students from Balochistan received BEEF scholarships; this year the number is expected to increase to more than thirty.
We received welcome news from the Higher Education Commission’s Quality Assurance Agency that the provisional score of Forman’s Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) has increased from 38.16 during 2018-2019 to 75.80 during 2022-2023. This is a major accomplishment, thanks largely to the leadership, dedication and work of Sarah Suleman and her QEC team.
Thanks to our Advancement and Alumni Office for hosting another in the continuing series of “Formanite Talkies,” this one held on August 8 and focused on Forman graduates working in the media. Several graduates cited specific members of Forman’s faculty including Dean of Humanities Dr. Altaf Ullah Khan and Mass Communication Chairperson Dr. Firasat Jabeen for playing an important role in shaping their careers. Given that my first degree was from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, I especially appreciated this opportunity to learn more about what our graduates are doing in this vital area.
The late summer monsoons brought flooding to Lahore including to our campus, briefly turning Main Field into a small lake that attracted many water birds seeking relief from the summer heat and prompting a visit by the Director of WASA to explore potential ways to mitigate water accumulation during the monsoon season. Against that backdrop, the seminar hosted by Forman on August 23 titled “Climate Change, Mega Cities and Urban Floods” seemed especially timely.
Dr. Vaqas and his team at Forman’s Population Research Center (PRC) played an essential role in organizing this event which also involved several external partners including the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the latter represented by Abid Qaiyum Suleri who introduced himself as an Old Formanite; other attendees included Punjab Provincial Assembly Member Ahmed Iqbal. The importance of data and information emerged as a recurring theme throughout the seminar, along with a recognition that policy frameworks are vital and all sections of society need to become involved.