Nurallah A. Merchant is Director General of University Administration and Chief Financial Officer. He joined AKU as Manager, Budget and Planning, in 1986, and has since proven his mettle in all affairs that came within the purview of his work. His association with AKU speaks of dedication and untiring efforts towards the University achieving higher standards of quality in every sphere of its operation.

Apart from AKU, Mr. Merchant has a rich experience of having worked in a variety of settings - management of insurance companies, pension funds, and investments - in Asia, Europe and America, and was once associated with one of the largest actuarial firms in the world, William M. Mercer Inc. He completed the associate ship examination of the Institute of Actuaries, London, in 1972 and was awarded a certificate in Finance and Investment in 1976 by the same institute.

He believes that his years of learning and experience on the actuarial ground have equipped him to meet the multifaceted and unique challenges that AKU presents as it expands across continents and strives relentlessly for excellence.

How does the University ensure efficient use of resources without compromising on quality?
At AKU's inception, the underlying principle was that there would be no compromise on quality. At every level, from the standard of its buildings, equipment and their upkeep, to the recruitment of faculty and staff and their development, the aim has always been quality. The University's financial planning is targeted to ensure that adequate resources are available to support the entire enterprise. Programme expansions are initiated once the University has a feasible plan towards sustaining the operations of new initiatives and expansions in the long term.

One of the key ingredients for resource planning is the engagement of faculty and staff at all levels. Development of budgets and long-term plans are highly consultative processes throughout the University and they help to create awareness and acceptance of responsibilities. Each departmental head or manager is in charge of the resources that are allocated to his or her department. Once you engage good professionals, put them in charge and hold them accountable, they will ensure efficient use of the University's resources.

At a more "macro" level, that is the overall planning level, the University tries to ensure that its organisational set up allows it to achieve economies of scale and retain efficiencies. I am confident that the University will respond to this challenge by continuing to re-evaluate its systems, policies and procedures in order to find better ways of doing business. The same yardstick applies to education, especially higher education. Providing high quality education is a challenge for any educational institution.

How does AKU respond to this challenge?
Quality education is a total learning experience that encompasses academics, sports, extra curricular activities and, most importantly, the development of a better understanding of societal responsibilities. To achieve these objectives, an institution needs to invest heavily in its people - faculty and staff - and its facilities - buildings, infrastructure and equipment. The latter may be somewhat simpler to manage. The sheer diversity of people with a variety of educational qualifications, knowledge and experience coupled with the opportunity for continuous learning and development, truly makes this enterprise extremely complicated and resource intensive.

The equation would not be complete without emphasising that students are the focal point of a university. A good educational institution should be able to attract the brightest and most promising students. AKU has a needs-blind policy, which admits students to all its educational programmes purely on merit. This truly responds to the University's commitment towards social development and creating opportunities to attract the best minds. Even though the tuition fees are a small percentage of the full cost of an AKU medical education, more than one-third of students receive additional financial assistance from the University.

AKU continues to challenge the content and the delivery of its educational programmes. The Medical College faculty is engaged in the modification of its curriculum to promote problem-based learning. Throughout the campus there is an increasing emphasis on the use of information technology in learning. AKU Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) is in the second phase of its evolution. Besides programme expansions and new initiatives, the Institute is also in the mode of programme modifications and alternative delivery systems, such as open learning. These are just a few examples, all of which are creating their own sets of demands on the University.

Tell us about the future national and international plans for the University.
At the national level, or should I say the regional level, the most significant investment of the University will be in the establish-ment of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). We have already purchased 400 acres of land. FAS could support many of the critical developments, such as the Institute of Human Development and the Institutes of Economic Growth and Society as well as Planning and Management of Human Settlements.

The Stadium Road campus is intended to be dedicated to the further development of Health Sciences related activities. This would include academic as well as service programmes. Construction of the Nazerali-Walji Ambulatory Care Building will be completed by August 2002, and of Khimji Cardiac Building in December 2003. Future buildings in our plans include the Women's Residences, an Oncology Building and Offices for faculty and staff. In Health Sciences, future academic programmes are likely to be concentrated in graduate and postgraduate studies. Expansion of research is also very high on the University's agenda and good progress has been made towards fostering a research culture.

AKU-IED has equally enjoyed tremendous success in a fairly short span of approximately nine years. Besides having students from 14 countries, it is increasingly collaborating with government and non-government institutions for addressing policy issues while assisting in the improvement of school education. The Institute will also continue to build on its successes in research.

Increasingly, the establishment of Professional Development Centres (PDCs) is being seen as an integral part of supporting future development in schools, and to this effect there is mounting pressure on AKU-IED to support new PDCs both in Pakistan and in other regions such as East Africa, where the Aga Khan Education Services already has a network of schools to support such initiatives.

The University has recently established the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London, and has also invested in the launching of Advanced Nursing Studies programmes in three East African countries, i.e. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Academic programmes have begun in Uganda and will start in other countries as well once accreditation has been received. In the foreseeable future, the University intends to bring medical education programmes to East Africa after the upgradation of the Aga Khan Health Services' hospitals in Nairobi, Kisumu and Dar-es-Salaam. In short, AKU has truly become an international University as described in its Charter. While planning for international programmes continues, AKU will invest in the improvement of its infrastructure and communication systems.