Daily Times

Dr Arshad Ahmed is to take charge as vice chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) by end-August 2018.

According to official release on Tuesday, Dr Arshad Ahmed is currently Vice-Provost, Teaching & Learning vice provost and Professor of Finance & Business Economics at McMaster University, Canada. Dr Ahmed will take charge as the fifth VC of LUMS.

Sharing his thoughts on his role at LUMS, Dr Ahmed said, “It is a great privilege to serve Pakistan’s premier institution and I am excited to work with talented colleagues and the exceptional students who I am confident will take LUMS to the next level of excellence. It is also a homecoming for me and I am grateful for the warm welcome I have already received during my visits.”

As Teaching & Learning vice provost at McMaster University for the past five years, Dr Ahmed has also led McMaster’s Paul MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation & Excellence in Teaching where he has spearheaded several initiatives that continue to enhance McMaster University’s reputation as an international leader in teaching and learning.

Prior to joining McMaster, Dr Ahmed was Professor of Finance at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business and has also taught executive programmes, seminars and led workshops around the world. Dr Ahmed also brings with him a wealth of consultancy experience across diverse industries in Canada and overseas, including Advertising, Appliances, Banking, Beverages, Engineering, Pharmaceuticals and Technology.

In addition to his expertise in finance, Dr Ahmed earned a Masters in Business Administration and Philosophy in Doctorate in Educational Psychology from McGill University and has focused on curriculum design, online and blended learning, approaches to effective teaching strategies and students as partner programmes. He continues to serve as chair of the editorial board of the International Journal for Students as Partners and as the chair of Teaching & Learning, Canada. Dr Ahmed has also led Canada’s Society for Teaching & Learning in Higher Education as its president while also being the vice president of the International Consortium of Educational Developers. Both these organisations aim to enhance the quality of the student learning experience.

In 1992, Dr Ahmed was recognised with a lifetime 3M Teaching Fellowship and has several local and international teaching awards to his credit. His accomplishments as the vice-provost have been further recognised when McMaster was recently selected as the winner of the Global Teaching Excellence Award by an international jury. His departure was announced recently in McMaster’s Daily News.

Dr Ahmed’s extensive experience and achievements will take LUMS further in its vision of global excellence as he takes this leadership position at LUMS. Currently, the university ranks amongst the top 50 universities in Asia on QS Graduate Employability Ranking 2018. As an institution, it is closing in on being ranked among the top 100 Universities in Asia.

Published in Daily Times, August 1^st 2018.