LAHORE The Punjab University has earned an enviable position in the HEC ranking at number four in the year 2009 for its research and higher education of quality which remained unprecedented and unmatched in the 129 years history of the premier institution. According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, 36.5 per cent of the total faculty of the University is PhDs which means 255 PhDs out of total 699 regular teaching staff. From amongst the 222 teachers working on contract basis, 56 are PhDs. This miraculous achievement and improvement in the HEC ranking is an international recognition made possible during the past three years when an academician Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran took over charge as the Vice Chancellor. The comparative study shows that the Punjab University has become the only University in the public sector having large number of PhDs and this is a very happy augury for the prosperous future of this country. It is also a rare distinction that more than 30,000 are on campus regular students in the 73 teaching departments governed by 13 faculties and nine constituent colleges in the disciplines of arts, science, commerce, IT and computer science where the students at undergraduate, postgraduate, MPhil and PhD levels are studying. Apart from the main campus spread at 1800 acre lush green land, thousands of students are studying at the old and Gujranwala campuses. The VC deserved appreciation for focusing on faculty development and PhD programme which has produced encouraging results. The study further shows that the University currently has 985 teachers with 355 holding PhD degrees. The percentage of PhD faculty development has increased from 29 per cent in 2008 to 39.5 per cent in 2010 for regular teachers and from 23 per cent in 2008 to 27.8 per cent in 2010 for contractual teachers. The research papers in science and engineering are evaluated by the referees in development countries universities while the research thesis in language and literature are also evaluated by the experts in advanced countries. As a result of promotion to research culture, the number of papers in impact factor journals has increased from 162 in 2007 to 352 in 2010. During the financial year 2007-08, the VC succeeded in allocating Rs 4 million for research adding to the equal amount already granted by the HEC for research purposes. In the year 2008-09 and 2009-10, the research budget was enhanced to Rs 50 million while in the budget 2010-11, a record increase of Rs 80 million was made in the budget for research. An Endowment Fund for research was also established with an initial allocation of Rs 250 million.