How To Generate Funds For

“University Of The Punjab”

Introduction
Established in 1882 at Lahore, the University of the Punjab is the largest and the oldest seat
of higher learning in Pakistan

The University comprises of:

 4 Campuses, 13 Faculties, 9 constituent colleges, over 63 Departments, Centres,
Institutes, and 500+ affiliated colleges.
 It has over 620 permanent faculty members involved in teaching/research and over
30,000 on campus students.
 Annually there are about 350 exams for 450,000 students.
 It has a 35km long fiber optic cable network.
 PU generates 70% revenues of its own,, whereas 30% are generated by Government.
 PU student teacher ratio is 30:1, which should be 10:1.

Goals
 Improvement in quality and standard of education to conform the national/international
needs.
 Promotion of development-oriented applied research.
 Accountability in finances and academic programs.
 Character development with emphasis on morality and growth of maturity.

The vision is to see University of Punjab in global rankings. For this different organizations
have laid down criteria’s to evaluate all the universities in the world.

For instance, QS world universities ranking lays the following parameters :

size, focus on research, academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty student ratio,
international faculty, international students, citation per faculty.

These criteria reflect the need for more laboratories, facilities, human capital and research
intensive environment. An academic institution relies heavily on its faculty. They need
finances to develop and retain them. Hence, comes an important issue:

“How to Generate Funds for Punjab University

1. Tunnel Farming in Punjab University

General
Vegetables are rich source of vitamins, carbohydrates, salts and proteins. Increased health
awareness, high population growth rate, changing dietary patterns of increasingly affluent
middle class and availability of packaged vegetables, has therefore generated a year round
high demand for vegetables in the country in general and in major city centers in particular.
However, our farmers have yet not been able to en-cash this opportunity and still follow
traditional sowing and picking patterns. Lack of developed vegetable processing and storage
facility robs our farmers from their due share of profit margins.

In the absence of storage infrastructure and vegetable processing industry in the country, off-
season vegetables farming is the only viable option that can add value to the farmer produce.

Tunnel Farming
Vegetables can be cultivated in off-season, with the induction of an artificial technique like
tunnel technology, in which temperature and moisture is controlled for specific growth of
vegetables.
Due to low temperature and frost from Dec to February, it is not possible to cultivate crops in
the open fields. Tunnel farming is introduced to get early and high production of summer
crop of vegetables. As tunnel is covered with plastic sheet, the temperature inside the tunnel
remains normal in severe cold. For this reason of severe cold and frost the growth of the
plants continues.

TYPES OF TUNNEL

1. High Tunnel (9 to 12 ft)

High tunnel facilitates easy access for soil preparation, picking and its
width and height. The crop yield is maximum in this type of tunnel.
Suitable for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers.

2. Walk in Tunnel (6ft)

Walk-in tunnels are lower than the high tunnels but they are gaining
popularity as they provide high yield compared to low tunnels. The
tunnel is suitable for growing tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet pepper and
hot pepper.

3. Low Tunnel (3ft) Advanced Stucture

It is cheaper than high tunnel but creates difficulty for soil preparation,
spraying and picking. The tunnels are suitable for cucumber sown flat
bed, melons, watermelons, bitter gourds, squashes, and snake gourds etc.
The crop yield in this type of tunnel is however low compared to high
tunnels.

Comparison Of Traditional Farming And Tunnel Farming

 More plantation per Kanal.
 Maximum profit on early crop.
 Use of hybrid seeds that give maximum production.
 Best use of urea and irrigation.

Crop Traditional Yield High Tunnel Yield

(lb/acre) (lb/acre)

Tomatoes 2000 7600

Blackberries 7000 30000

Opportunity Rationale
There is a huge demand for fresh vegetables in the local as well as international markets,
which includes Europe, Middle East, and Far Eastern markets but due to their perishable
nature it is difficult to export this commodity. The facility of growing off-season vegetables
also allows for growing non-conventional varieties and vegetables, which are in high demand
in the international market.

Advantages
Benefits from year-round production include
 Income of farmers increase
 higher prices at times of the year when other local growers (who have only unprotected
field crops) do not have produce.
 Employment opportunities generate
 Duration of availability of vegetables increase which causes prices to be stable
 higher yields and better quality. In summers for off season vegetables cultivation high
quality indeterminate
 Tunnel farming has increased the production of plants in even smaller areas, which
is turned out to be profitable
 In plastic tunnel farming, problems due to less supply of water are alleviating by
using drip system irrigation

Disadvantages
 increased management demands,
 higher production costs, and
 plastic disposal problems
 no break in the yearly work schedule

PUNJAB UNIVERSITY
Off season vegetable grower
At present, the tunnel technology is being used at University of the Punjab, Lahore.

Hybrid Vegetable Farming

Hybrid Vegetable Research Farm has been set up with a view to creating awareness how the
agricultural income can be increased by small farmers. It is planned to educate farmers on
this technology. Masters programs in Agricultural Management has been introduced to help
enhance the agricultural productivity in rural areas so that migration from rural areas to urban
areas is curtailed. Comparative data is given as follows:-

Expenditure And Income – Cultivation Per Acre

CULTIVATION
PERIOD MONTHLY
CROPS EXPENDITURE INCOME (RS.) PROFIT (RS.)
(MONTHS) INCOME (RS.)
(RS.)
WHEAT 6 3,000 10,000 7,000 1,200
RICE 4 3,000 14,500 11,500 3,000
SEASONAL
4 25,000 60,000 35,000 9,000
TOMATO
SEASONAL
4-5 25,000 1,00,000 75,000 15,000
PEPPER
SEASONAL
4 22,000 30,000 7,500 2,000
CABBAGE
Cost Shed Per Acre

Recommended Tunnel
In this pre-feasibility study, cultivation is recommended with the use of walk in tunnels on the basis
of its low and high production capacity. For tunnel cultivation, F1 hybrid seed bred for tunnel use is
used, because they have the ability to resist multiple diseases. The productivity and quality of the crop
is ensured from quality of these seeds. The crop yield achieved from hybrid seeds is 3 to 4 times more
than to the ordinary

Threats for The Business

 Crop failure in any year.
 Effect of change in the government regulations.
 Absence of crop insurance.

Opportunities for the Business

 Hybrid seeds that provide higher yield can lead to lower unit cost
 Off-season cultivation of high value vegetables will fetch better price and provide
continuous supply to the processing industries.
 Higher prices can be obtained by producing the right crops, at the right times and of better
quality. They may also depend on negotiating skills and targeting high price buyers.

2. Food court in university premises

One cannot deny the necessity of food for a human being. But when it comes to taste, we all
know that Lahori culture is a food culture and our focus is on “How to generate funds for
PU?” So building a food court in PU new campus will be an effective way to achieve our
goal.

Concept
As we all are aware of, PU has a large amount of unutilized land. They can use some of its
area for building a food court. And for this purpose some international and national food
chain restaurants will be allowed to make bids to operate in the food court area. And the
highest eight bidders among those will be allowed to enter the food court area and serve the
PU population with their respective menus.

Objective
 Revenue generation for Punjab University
 This will result in profit generation for those restaurants as well
 Ease and comfort the population of PU which is over 30,000

Plan
PU can invite the following food brands to come and make their bids
a. Kfc
b. Mcdonalds
c. Pizza hut
d. Bundu khan/ ze grill
e. Balochi sajji
f. Student Biryani
g. Lahore broast/ Yasir broast
h. Kitchen cuisine
i. Fine restaurant
j. A corner will be allocated to
 a. Dahi bhala
b. Gol gappay
c. Gola etc

The reason behind taking these brands is to cover the maximum variety of food that can be
served quickly to attract maximum customers.

Another aim is to cover a variety of food that ranges from cheap - costly as this will be help
us in achieving our goal to attract maximum customers.

PU will allot a land for this purpose. It can be a square food court comprising of covered
sitting arrangement in the centre and restaurants on the outside

Or this project can be a full covered one i.e. a building will contain restaurants and the sitting
arrangement. Of the above two suggestions, the latter should be preferred to avoid disruption
by seasonal changes which may divert the customer or the restaurant

PU can charge fee for this purpose or can lease the land to every restaurant and have a fixed
portion of their sales every month.

The project is cost intensive but it will help PU in long run and it is very effective for profit
generation

Why would the restaurants be interested in food court?

The restaurants would be interested in coming to PU premises because many departments
don’t have their own cafe and they are restricted to enter the other departments.

Moreover, in departments having their own cafeteria, students get bored of the low quality
and costly products due to which a large no. of students from every department order food
from fast food chain restaurants (especially on some special events) for delivery.

Hence, there is a demand for these brands and these restaurants know that as well. Giving
them access to enter PU will be a great opportunity for them and they will be willing to enter
a market of over 30,000 population.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strength
 Location: Our food court will be placed in such an area which can be easily accessible
from all departments.
 Experienced staff: experienced staff of every restaurant will help us in providing quality
food service to PU population.
 Ambience of place: The feeling of being in their native place while dining is itself a
pleasure experience which gives us an advantage over others.
 Awareness of brands:- almost everyone is aware of these brands and their good will in
market so there won’t be a problem in attracting customers

Weakness
 Financing: a very high amount of financing is needed for this purpose. It will consume a
lot of cash of PU
 Lack of experience: it is a start-up and PU may face difficulties in its completion

Opportunities:-
 Growing market: - restaurants market is growing at a fast speed and demand for quality
food is never ending.
 Potential to become a premier food provider: - because of the experienced and well
known brands PU can deliver a variety of quality food products to its population at the
same place

Threats
There may be organizations/ unions inside the university (jamiat etc) that would resist the
idea. They might consider letting western fast food franchises in university premises as
unethical. Food chains might have security issues as PU has a witnessed some unfortunate
events like strikes and vandalism.

3. Other suggestions

Society membership:
University can earn revenue by making more societies i.e. debates, dramatics etc and those
who wish to be a member of any society will pay membership fees

PU chefs in food corners outside hostel areas:

Instead of giving food corners to outsiders, university can manage them on its own and
appoint its own chefs and waiters. This would be much profitable than renting that area to
outsiders.
Movies-auditorium/open air:
University can raise funds by sponsoring a popular movie on campus. Basically this involves
renting a movie and showing it one evening in an auditorium on campus. University expenses
will include rent for the film and advertisement costs only as it has its own projectors
resulting in huge cost effectiveness.
This idea involves a little risk - Publicity, timing, and choice of the movie are what will
determine your success.

The other way is to organize an open air movie night by spreading a white sheet on the wall
and then arranging a projector. But this would be little costly than the previous one and may
result in relatively low profit and other issues like security issues etc.

This should be noted here that it is an ongoing process and will benefit university in for a
continuous/longer period

Marathon:
University can arrange a marathon every year. Each participant will pay an entry fee and in
return gets a t-shirt commemorating the marathon. Prizes will be awarded to the winners.

University can also get sponsors to donate the prizes for this event. It can be a very successful
if organized and managed properly.

The Walk-a-thon. :
Closely related to this marathon approach is the walk-a-thon idea. Each participant in the
walk-a-thon gets people to pledge to give him a certain amount of money per mile. After the
walk-a-thon, the walker collects the money from his sponsors. So it is an attractive way to
attract the participants and revenue

Tournaments:
University can organize open tournaments every year which will allow outsiders to take part
as well. These open tournaments can be of different sports i.e. athletics, swimming, cricket,
table tennis, badminton etc. University will allow entry fee for audience and participants –
generating revenue- and will announce prizes for the winners of each tournament, hence
attracting a large no. of participants.

Open swimming pool for general public:

Recently there has been a change of policy regarding university swimming pool.
Management has restricted outsiders to enter the pool which resulted in a decline in revenue.
As university charges only Rs.2 from university students and it was charging Rs.50 from
outsiders.
Moreover university should increase swimming hours. Currently, it has only 2 sessions i.e.
from 2pm-4pm and 4pm-6pm. It should start swimming hours from morning
Coffee houses:
Hosting a coffeehouse can be another fun way to raise money. What university needs to do is
to invite a group of volunteer musicians, guitarists, vocalists, pianists, whoever, and have
them perform for their group. University can make money off admission or by the sale of
coffee, tea, hot cider with cinnamon sticks, hot chocolate, popcorn, donuts and cookies. The
talent used in this type of event doesn't have to be restricted to musicians. Comedians, actors,
jugglers, mimes: all these are possibilities. This can be a great social event and effective
revenue generation method.

Fuel pump and car wash:

University can utilize its vacant area by leasing it to a fuel pump which will have a car wash
facility. As university has the population of over 30,000 students, this could be a very
effective method for generation of university income. As students and professors won’t have
to go out for fuelling their vehicles and they will turn to a nearby pump that will be in the
university. So it is very easy to attract any fuel pump contractor.

Workshop:
University can go for building a workshop within the university premises. Currently, there is
no proper workshop for vehicles needing repair work.

Flower shop:
The sale of flowers can be a big money raiser. University can make a flower shop that will
cover a good variety of flowers at cheaper rates. As this would be very useful at some special
occasions like mother’s day, eid etc.

Donation booth in each dept:

University can also establish a donation booth in every department. As this would help
university to finance the burden of scholarships and ease their expenses to some extent.

Grounds for hire:

University has large grounds which it can be hired for various purposes e.g. colleges that
don’t have a ground can use university ground for their annual sports, functions etc. Renting
out ground for the marriage purposes is a highly profitable idea.

Conduct survey for marketing research firms:

University can contact research firms and help them in their purpose i.e. university students
will survey industry; perform data collection and analysis for the required firm and the
student will get a reasonable compensation for that job. In return to which he will give a
certain sum of money as compensation to the university. This is profitable for all i.e. the
research firm, student and the university

Brand promotions:
University can help brands in their brand promotion by charging a sum of money for this
purpose and allowing them to enter the market of 30,000 people for a day i.e. they can make
stalls for a day or two in university premises.

Book stores:
Unavailability of course books is a real issue which is faced by students. University can build
its own bookshop where they can cover the range of entire course books being taught in the
university. As we all know that opening a bookshop is a very profitable idea it will help
university in generating its income