Day: January 24, 2023

Lahore, January 24, 2023 (PPI-OT):Maintaining a strong foundation in ethical doctrines and sustaining the capability of staff to avert and counter corruption in the private sector remain challenging worldwide. In response to this challenge, the University of Lahore (UOL), in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), prepared ethics ambassadors in Pakistan to serve as a beacon of light in the corporate sector.

UOL provided a platform to enhance students’ ethical awareness and commitment to acting with integrity through the UNODC Global Integrity Education Project (GIEP). Under this project, 22 fresh graduate students from the UOL, University of Central Punjab (UCP), and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) were equipped with the skills to develop an ethical mind-set that they can apply at their future workplace. The 22 nominees were selected after a thorough screening process that also included a written exam and an interview.

Creating ethical corporate workspace

The UNODC panel of companies will have the opportunity to hire these graduate students for internships, traineeships, or other types of employment. Once students join the companies, they are expected to serve as “Ethics Ambassadors” and to contribute to the on-the-job ethics training for companies alongside other tasks.

With the help of UNODC and the company representatives, the recruited ethics ambassadors will develop innovative materials for on-the-job ethics training for companies. They will, therefore, make use of the UNODC university modules and existing company resources. The staff of the participating companies will receive on-the-job ethics training courses.

Training the future leaders in Pakistan

UNODC’s Ethics Ambassadors Training Program (EATP)/Integrity Leadership Training Program (ILTP) 2022-2023 is a five-week hybrid training programme launched under the UNODC’s GIEP. The main objective of the project is to create a talent supply chain of university graduates who are empowered to act as ethics ambassadors and seek to join public or private sector organizations.

Orientation session

The training was conducted in the UOL based on a hybrid model. It was initiated on October 7, 2022, with an orientation session where all the trainers and panellists of the training programme joined. During this session, Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf (Rector, UOL) elaborated on the importance of lifelong networking and assured the organizers, panellists, and participants of the UOL’s full support.

Prof Syed Hussain Haider (Integrity and Advocacy Expert, UNODC), Mr Haroon Ahmed Shabbir (Senior Vice President, Amentis Technologies Pvt Limited), Mr Muhammad Adil (CEO, Amentis Technologies Group), Mr Shan-e-Muhammad Malik (Gloria Jeans and Ideas Pakistan), and faculty members from the UOL, UCP, and LUMS also addressed the orientation ceremony.

E4J modules on integrity, ethics, and anti-corruption

The participants were provided with the four E4J modules developed and contextualised by UNODC that included challenges of ethical living, detecting and investigating corruption, behavioural ethics, and ethical leadership. These modules were a localised version of global modules with case studies depicting problems and challenges in Pakistan and how to counter them.

Training sessions

The first day of training was conducted by Prof Haider with discussions on ethical dilemmas, team-building exercises, and question-and-answer sessions on the case studies from UNODC modules on ethical living, transparency, integrity, and anti-corruption.

On the second day, a workshop on time management, corporate decorum, and office diversity was conducted by Mr Shabir. It was a full-day workshop with models, videos, demonstrations, and illustrations.

On the third day, top corporate trainers comprising Mr Kazim Ali, Mr Kashif Afzal, and Mr Basharatullah Malik conducted trainings in communication, ethical negotiation, and the power of persistent incremental change.

On day 4, Mr Shoaib Baig (Managing Director of 360 Consultancy) shared his experience of working for 30 years with numerous multinational companies, including Coca-Cola. It was then followed by two young guest speakers, Ms Ayesha Manzoor (Head of Operations at Priceoye) and Mr Noreel Abbas (CEO of Wheelchairwala), who also shared their success stories.

The training sessions ended with an extensive written exam and presentation-based evaluations of the teams. These evaluations comprised individual exams of 4 hours and group presentations based on the GIE case studies and other related material. Presentations were followed by back-to-back question-and-answer sessions between each group.

Several new concepts and arenas of ethical conduct emerged as a result of this engaging dialogue. The grading of the exam and presentation was based on intra-group as well as inter-group peer evaluation.

Passing out of the first batch

The first batch of GIEP trainees was commissioned during a closing ceremony held at UOL on November 15, 2022. Ms Ammara Awais (Director, OSA) graced the occasion as the chief guest in the presence of Mr Jahanzaib Iqbal (Senior Programme Associate, UNODC Pakistan), corporate gurus, and trainers, honourable faculty members from various Universities and Mr Saad Zafar (Manager, Office of Sustainability, QEC) along with his team. Some of the students also shared their experience of training sessions and the learning they acquired throughout these sessions.

Mr Iqbal thanked all the institutes, faculty, corporate panel, business practitioners, and especially the UOL for hosting this unique five-week hybrid training programme. He also appreciated the trainees for their consistency and hard work.

Mrs Awais as chief guest reiterated that it is the need of the hour and extremely important to scale up this program so that more future leaders can be sensitized on the subjects of integrity, accountability, transparency, and anti-corruption.

She appreciated all the stakeholders of the programme and expressed her confidence that all 22 graduates would be selected as ethical ambassadors in the UNODC corporate panel companies. She also assured the audience of the UOL’s total support for the GIEP and the ethical ambassadorship program.

Later, the chief guest distributed certificates among the Batch-1 graduate students, cups of distinction to the winning teams, and mementos of appreciation to the experts, trainers, and guest speakers.

In the end, Mr Saad gave a vote of thanks and a sweeping appreciation to all stakeholders for synchronization and unfettered contribution. Similar training programmes will be conducted by UNODC in collaboration with the academic partners in January and March 2023.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk

Lahore, January 24, 2023 (PPI-OT):Dr Umer Younas (Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry) along with fellow researchers has synthesised a nanocomposite using the hydrothermal method, which can degrade carcinogenic pollutants such as dyes and free radicals.

Dr Younas presented this research work titled “Hydrothermal Fabrication of TiO2/WO3/V2O5 Nanocomposite for Catalytic degradation of Hazardous Waste” at the recently held international conference, “Modern Problems of Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry”, at Baku State University, Azerbaijan.

As unravelled by Dr Younas, there is a dire need to synthesize different nanomaterials using suitable green methods having a promising catalytic activity to deal with carcinogenic pollutants such as dyes and free radicals.

He made his contribution to fulfilling this need by synthesizing nanocomposite i.e. TiO2/WO3/V2O5 using a very effective and eco-friendly hydrothermal method. This nanocomposite can prove effective for the catalytic degradation of organic dyes and the scavenging of free radicals.

Synthesis and applications of metal and metal oxides based nanocomposite have been focused on by many researchers nowadays. These nanocomposites are being synthesized using different methods keeping in their applications as catalysts and radical scavenging agents.

However, in his study, Dr Younas successfully formulated oxides of titanium, tungsten, and vanadium as a nanocomposite i.e. TiO2/WO3/V2O5, using a hydrothermal method. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized using different techniques including UV-visible, FTIR, SEM, and XRD. The formation of the nanocomposite was initially confirmed with the help of a UV visible spectrophotometer showing its characteristic wavelength of maximum absorption at 330 nm.

In addition, FTIR spectra indicated the formation of nanocomposite by the presence of different representative peaks. The nanocomposite was found to have heterogeneous morphology. Furthermore, the radical scavenging potential of the nanocomposite was recorded at more than 80%. Dr Younas’s study confirmed that TiO2/WO3/V2O5 nanocomposite could be successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal method. Furthermore, it can be used for the catalytic degradation of organic dyes and the scavenging of free radicals.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk

Lahore, January 24, 2023 (PPI-OT):Within a span of one year, SMC is treating more than 5000 patients per month, belonging to all walks of life and from all across Lahore. The University of Lahore (UOL) has always been actively involved in countering the intricate challenges of public health through various community-based approaches. The Sehat Medical Complex (SMC), Hanjarwal is one of these projects. It has been a whole year since the time of its inception in November 2021 that SMC has been providing affordable and quality healthcare services to the masses.

SMC started with five departments and 50 patients per month. Now, it has established physiotherapy, optometry, diet and nutrition, speech therapy, radiology (ultrasound and x-ray), occupational therapy, audiology, emergency, pharmacy, and psychology departments.

Recently, SMC celebrated its one-year anniversary with a grand event that was graced by Mr Awais Raoof (Chairman BoG), Mrs Shahnaz Raoof (Director H.L.M.C.), Prof Dr Syed Amir Gilani (Pro-Rector, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences), Dr Zahid Pervaiz (MS, The University of Lahore Teaching Hospital), and Prof Dr Ashfaq Ahmed (Dean Faculty of Allied Health Sciences).

During the ceremony, Dr Waseem Javaid (Project Director of SMC) briefed the audience about the growth and achievements of SMC over the past year. He apprised the audience about laboratory services and the future plans of SMC. He said that physiotherapy graduates from the UOL receive a 6-month didactic house job training at SMC to help them improve their clinical skills and learn new things.

Due to the dire need for clinical research, a centre of excellence in clinical research has been established, which will produce 25 quality impact factor research articles under this umbrella. For this purpose, a research workshop on quality article writing was also conducted by the professional development cell.

Mr Raoof also gave his valuable remarks for SMC and congratulated the team on the successful completion of its first year of operations. He advised the team to keep working with the same zeal to achieve the new community healthcare and research development standards. The chairman voiced his vision that SMC would continue to flourish and expressed his commitment to the further establishment of 20 similar facilities all over the city.

On this occasion, Dr Gilani endorsed the importance of hands-on training and supervised learning for the better development of students who are trained at SMC. Shields were presented to the honourable chief guest, guest of honour, and project director, SMC. Certificates were presented to the members who had excelled in their domains over the past year, thus providing a boost to the morale of the staff. The event was concluded with a cake-cutting ceremony.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk

Lahore, January 24, 2023 (PPI-OT):Technology, when integrated into teaching, revolutionises the learning process. More and more studies show that technology integration in the curriculum improves students’ learning processes and outcomes. To fuse technology into teaching, the Teacher Training Academy (TTA) at the University of Lahore (UOL) recently held a training session to provide faculty members with guidelines on integrating technology and employing varied online resources into their teaching methodologies.

Since the effective use of digital learning tools in classrooms can increase student engagement, that is why, during the training session, Dr Raza Saleem Khan (Assistant Professor, LBS), introduced the faculty to different online tools that can assist teachers to improve their lesson plans, facilitate personalised learning, and help students to build essential 21st-century skills.

The pedagogy wheel was discussed in detail; it is a visual tool for teachers, developed by Allan Carrington, combining Bloom’s Taxonomy and the SAMR model to classify hundreds of educational applications that are useful for teachers in designing their curriculum. In the SAMR model, the use of educational technology (EdTech) becomes increasingly sophisticated.

This model introduces four categories for different degrees of classroom technology integration: substitution and augmentation, which use EdTech to enhance learning and add value, and modification and redefinition, which harness EdTech to transform learning and make new things possible.

The pedagogy wheel also takes into account Bloom’s taxonomy, which is a set of three hierarchical models used for the classification of educational learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity. Following the pedagogy wheel discussion, different apps used for teaching were shared.

The participants were also told about an application called Poll Everywhere which is an online service that facilitates teachers’ and students’ interaction and can help teachers assess students’ progress. The faculty members were also trained on effectively using Moodle to create courses online, add assignments, and keep an eye on their students’ progress. It also allows the teachers to communicate with the students and encourage communication between them in forums and discussions.

In short, the platform is multi-faceted and flexible, so it’s easy to get confused when learning one’s way around for the first time. Dr Khan guided the faculty regarding how they can use Moodle, add assignments, keep an eye on students’ progress, and effectively communicate with the students.

Lastly, Dr Khan guided the faculty on how to integrate technology in a way that can cater to the academic needs of all types of learners. As there are different types of learners, such as auditory learners, visual learners, and kinaesthetic learners, he advised the faculty to incorporate multiple group discussions, recorded sessions, lectures, graphics-heavy presentations, experiential activities, and role plays to incorporate all types of learners in class.

For more information, contact:
The University of Lahore
1 – KM Defence Road, Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-111-865-865, +92-42-35322501 +92-42-35321761
Email: info@uol.edu.pk
Website: www.uol.edu.pk