The decision was taken at a meeting of the university’s syndicate chaired by Vice Chancellor Prof Johar Ali. The proposed mergers will require formal approval from the university’s senate.
University officials attributed the move largely to declining interest among students in public-sector universities, citing a mismatch between some academic programmes and the requirements of local and international job markets.
Under the proposed restructuring, the Department of Plant Biodiversity will be merged with the Department of Botany to form the Institute of Botany and Plant Biodiversity. The Departments of Urban and Regional Planning and Geography and Geomatics will also be combined.
Similarly, the Departments of Persian and Urdu will be merged, while Sociology, Gender Studies and Social Anthropology will be consolidated into a single academic unit.
The Pashto Academy will be merged with the Department of Pashto, while the Departments of Regional Studies, International Relations, History and Philosophy will be brought together under one department.
The Department of Seerat will also be merged with Islamiat to form the Department of Islamic and Seerat Studies.
The university further decided to shift its BS Human Nutrition and Dietetics and BS Public Health programmes from the College of Home Economics to the Institute of Health Sciences. Meanwhile, fashion design, interior design, and arts and design programmes will be consolidated under a single academic unit.
Sources said the restructuring followed directives from the previous senate meeting to merge under-enrolled departments in order to reduce the financial burden on the university. A committee subsequently reviewed enrolment figures, faculty-to-student ratios, salary expenditure and per-student costs before recommending the mergers.
UoP spokesperson Numan Jan said the proposal, initially approved by the academic council, had been endorsed by the syndicate. He said the university would continue to offer more than 70 BS programmes.
He added that faculty members of the affected departments would be transferred or adjusted according to workload, departmental consolidation and programme requirements.
