ISLAMABAD, Nov. 23 (INP): An eminent educationist Prof. Dr. Zia-Ul-Qayyum here on Friday assumed the responsibility of newVice Chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU). Dr. Zia who enjoys high-profile academic background was recently appointed for the prestigious slot by the President of Pakistan, in his capacity as the University’s chancellor. His appointment was made for four-year tenure. He gets the honour of running the affairs of the AIOU that is considered as the country’s largest educational institution in term of its enrollment (about 1.3 million students) and country-wide academic infrastructure network (44 regional offices). Dr. Zia is an experienced educationist, who earned master’s degrees in mathematics and computer science and also earned a doctorate (PhD) from the University of Leeds, UK, specializing in Machine Learning/Semantic Information Retrieval. His professional experience spans more than 28 years in a diverse range of fields. The establishment of IT institutes and organisational planning and development remain the foremost highlights of his career. Lately, he was serving as VC, University of Gujrat. Earlier he had been associated with some prominent educational institutions, like NUST National University of Computer and Engineering Sciences, Iqra University and University Institute of Information Technology. INP/LK