Dr. Robert Baker Appointed Director General of New Planning Office
Dr. Robert Baker recently assumed the post of Director General of Planning, to head the newly created Planning Office at AKU. The Office was instituted to manage and co­ordinate the requirements of a rapidly expanding University.

Dr. Baker joined AKU as Professor and Director of the Institute for Educational Development in 1997. He continues as a Professor of Education at AKU, while fulfilling his duties as Director General of Planning. Prior to AKU, he worked in various South and South East Asian countries as a consultant and team leader on the design and evaluation of national social sector programmes with Save the Children (UK) and UNICEF. He has held faculty and management positions at several universities in Australia and Canada. Dr. Baker completed his undergraduate study at the University of Melbourne and the M.Ed. and PhD degrees in Sociology of Education at the University of Toronto.

The need for a Planning Office was recognised some time ago by the Board of Trustees and is a response to the extensive development of new programmes and the expansion of existing programmes and facilities. Reporting to the President, the Director General, Planning, has responsibility for further development of the University's three and ten year plans, and for development and oversight of implementation strategies. An updated Strategic Plan and Progress Report is to be presented annually to the Board.

Among new developments with which the Planning Office will be concerned are outreach programmes and new campuses in Pakistan, East Africa and Central Asia, and specific initiatives which are now commencing, such as the Institute of Islamic Civilisations in London and the College of Arts and Sciences in Karachi, for which planning is in progress under the leadership of Mr. Robert Edwards, a Trustee of AKU.