Prof. Dr. Masood Akhtar, Vice Chancellor University of Baltistan is a distinguished academician, researcher, and administrator in higher education sector, with over 33 years of professional experience. He has made remarkable contributions in teaching, research, institutional development, and academic leadership. Dr. Akhtar completed his M.Sc. (Hons.) in 1991 and PhD in 1995 followed by postdoctoral training from Lincoln University, New Zealand in 2005. During his PhD and post doctorate training, he worked on the development of novel anti-parasitic vaccines and established the discipline of Immunoparasitology in Pakistan. Later, he supervised more than 10 PhD and 110 M. Phil/M. Sc (Hons.) programs for their theses research around the theme of Immuoparasitology and played a key role in strengthening this important discipline in the country. He also won and completed more than 10 funded research projects from different funding agencies including PSF, PARB, ALP, NSLP and HEC etc. to establish his research domain. Based upon his excellence in academic research, Dr. Akhtar was decorated with various international and national scientific awards including AMBO Fellowship Award by Asian Molecular Biology Organization, Japan; postdoctoral Fellowship at Lincoln University, New Zealand by HEC, Govt. of Pakistan; Research Productivity Award for the consecutive years 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14 from Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of Pakistan and PAMS Junior Gold Medal Award-1999 by Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!He has also been awarded various other awards, cash prizes and certificates of honor/appreciation from various national and international organizations including University Grants Commission, Star Laureate and Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council etc. He has authored >130 research papers published in renowned Internationally abstracted/impact factor journals in addition to various Textbooks and monographs which have been recommended as Text/reference books by the Higher Education Commission and other education regulatory bodies all over the country. Dr. Akhtar has also drafted various policy papers as road map for the decision-making bodies to address various issues related to livestock industry.
Dr Akhtar served two renowned universities of the country including University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan. In both institutions he remained part of the important statutory bodies including Senate, Syndicate and Academic Council. He also served as Convener/member of various committees and some important ones are Finance and Planning Committee, Disciplinary Committee, University Admission Committee and Doctoral/M. Phil Committee in addition to many others.
Dr. Akhtar joined Bahauddin Zakriya University in 2013 as Professor of Pathobiology and was appointed by the Honourble Governor of Punjab as Dean, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences for three consecutive tenures from 2014 to 2023.
Dr. Akhtar proved his administrative excellence by the recognition of DVM program at BZU from Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council in 2014 followed by its recognition by American Association of Veterinary Medical Collages as affiliate member in 2019.
He strengthened the faculty by the establishment of four different departments in the faculty in addition to many other functional units viz. Experimental Livestock Farms, Paraveterinary school, University Diagnostic Laboratory and Prof. Dr. Sikandar Hayat Auditorium etc. Under his dynamic leadership, state-of-the-art facilities were developed in University Diagnostic and Semen preservation and cryopreservation labs of FVS-BZU and both the labs were approved by the cabinet division, Govt of the Punjab as analyst institutions for the evaluation of animal semen. During his tenure at BZU, he started various under- and post-graduate degree programs and enhanced the academic excellence of the faculty and international visibility of university through quality research and international publications by the postgraduate students. To acknowledge the services and significant contribution of Dr. Akhtar towards the remarkable growth of Faculty at national/international level, University named a lab at Faculty of Veterinary Sciences as “Prof. Dr. Masood Akhtar Central Hi Tech Laboratory” and this lab is equipped with hi-tech instrumentation to provide the analytical, diagnostic and advisory services to the stakeholders of livestock industry.
Apart from institutional growth, Dr. Akhtar also contributed to the higher education sector as Member of National Curricula Revision Committee of Higher Education Commission, Govt. of Pakistan, Curricula/Syllabi Committee for DVM Degree program of Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council, Govt. of Pakistan and National Review Committee (NRC) constituted by National Vocational & Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC), Govt. of Pakistan and expert/reviewer for various funding programs by HEC, PARB, PSF and ALP-PARC etc. Additionally, he also served as a member of various professional bodies/organizations including USAID-Core Advocacy Group on Livestock, The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene-UK, Cattle Management Marketing Company-Multan Division and Punjab Livestock Breeding Authority, Govt. of the Punjab.
Dr. Akhtar also contributed to the recognition of Bahauddin Zakariya University by signing MoUs/collaborative agreements with different international organizations including The Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Federal Institute for Animal Health, Germany, Center for Agriculture & Food Security & Preparedness (CAFSP), The University of Tennessee USA, The Aksaray University, Turkey and International Livestock Research Institution (ILRI), Kenya & International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) for collaborative research and community development activities.
The academic circles are confident that University of Baltistan Skardu will emerge as a leading institution of higher learning under the dynamic and visionary leadership of Prof. Dr. Masood Akhtar.