HYDERABAD, Dec 2: Sindh University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nazir A. Mughal has said the university will soon establish another campus in Nawabshah.

He urged the government to ensure uninterrupted provision of funds to help the university run all its campuses in a smooth manner.

Dr Mughal was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day international symposium on analytical and environmental chemistry at the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto convention centre at the SU Jamshoro campus on Monday. The symposium was organised by the SU’s National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry.

The vice-chancellor said the symposium would provide a good opportunity to scientists of various countries to exchange knowledge and establish effective means of communication.

He appreciated participation of guests from Turkey, Malaysia and Iraq and their willingness to share knowledge and enlighten environmental issues with possible solutions.

He welcomed all national and international scholars and said that SU was observing 2013 as a year of community service. The university had increased research budget by 100 per cent i.e. from Rs36 million to Rs72 million and sent over 100 faculty members abroad to do their PhD, he said.

The past few centuries, he said, had witnessed a rapid growth worldwide but entailed by uneven and unsustainable economic development which had caused disastrous environmental crises like environmental pollution, climate change, depletion of resources and loss of biodiversity.

He said the target of sustainable development could be achieved through integrated and comprehensive approach and changes in all sectors of human life and its environment.

No nation could make any progress without education and advancement in science and technology, hence the university was paying special attention to these disciplines to meet challenges of present era, he said.

Dr Mughal said the universities afforded peaceful environment for research to young minds and groomed raw talent for higher education. Analytical chemistry was an exciting inter-disciplinary field that was applied in emerging areas of science, he said.

MNA Dr Syeda Nafisa Shah who was chief guest at the event said that academic exchange and dialogues not only helped promote new ideas and research but also strengthened ties between different institutes of the country and abroad.

She said that they created opportunities to promote standards of research and technological education keeping in view growing need for skilled manpower.

She said that analytical and environmental chemistry was a field that was central to industrial development, environmental protection and equally important creation of employment.

She said that in most developed countries universities contributed to research and training for factories. She emphasised that pure research as an end in itself was important and it was equally important to undertake joint research projects in partnership with industry and environmental protection agencies to add commercial and developmental value to the research work. It would promote industrial specialisation and growth and clean technologies, she said.

She said that applications of research must affect everyday lives of common man. Despite best efforts of the institute in promoting scientific research, there was still need to have regular linkages with policymakers, she added.

She said the governments must have systems in place to identify challenges they faced in addressing problems and scientists must respond to the challenges.

She raised the question whether there was a channel between the university research, academia and policymakers where such issues were identified and a way forward devised.

For instance, she said, problem of release of effluent into the Indus river, issues of soil quality and industrial runoff, vehicles pollution in cities and hydrocarbon pollution.

She said that adulteration in pharmaceutical industry and linkages between environmental problems and primary healthcare were the problems that needed immediate and urgent attention.

Ms Shah asked how much of research works were shared and used for better policymaking. There were many environmental and industrial issues that could further be identified through interdepartmental dialogue and this centre could serve as a forum where linkages were established, she said.

She said that institutional forums of communication must be created to focus on research and pointed out that in recent years, higher education in Pakistan had greatly advanced in terms of growth.

She said that universities generally emphasised undergraduate programmes and gave less importance to higher education. Realising this trend, the present government had laid great emphasis on teaching and research, she said.

She said the government and SU were committed to groom great scientists and provide funds and other support to encourage and maintain their productivity.

The governments needed to do more and provided endowment to the SU for research which was commercially viable and resulted in patentable intellectual property, she said.

She lauded efforts made by SU scientists and hoped their collective efforts would produce fruitful results by communicating new ideas through this platform.

It would have a lasting value for the advancement of a common goal of building a better country and world, she said.

Dr Osman Yavuz Ataman, scientist and former dean of science at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey who spoke as guest of honour said that in 2007, the SU had organised a similar event which was attended by Turkish scholars and it helped open up opportunities for holding similar academic events in different Islamic countries.

He said that scholars and scientists were like one community who made joint efforts for the betterment of daily lives of common man.

The spirit to work together increased confidence, brotherhood and love among scientists, he said.

He said that he was happy to see many young scholars and students enrolled in different universities of Turkey and engaged in PhD research programmes.

National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry director and chief coordinator of the symposium, Dr Shahabuddin Memon, said that established 1976, the centre had been contributing to efforts for coping with national and international demands of scientific research and technology.

He said that 38 research papers would be read in the symposium and 34 poster presentations would be presented.

Subjects would include new developments in quality assurance, safety of food, new separation techniques and methodologies, environmental monitoring and techniques regarding healthy environment, he said.