Lahore university of management scineces graduates, alumni

Multinationals do their hiring directly from LUMS graduates, alumni
Lahore, Dec 19: At the heart of the current shake-up at LUMS is the dominance of the SDSB – more specifically the MBA programme – in the hierarchy of the various schools at the university. When it was founded in the late 80s, the business school was to be a nursery for future executives, who would run some of the largest businesses in the country. Even today, some of the world's largest multinationals do their hiring directly from among LUMS graduates and alumni.

However, critics say the SDSB is not the most financially viable institution. Its expenditure far exceeds its revenue-generation capacity, and since it is a one-of-a-kind institution with a select faculty and Harvard-style case study academic programmes, salaries and other expenses are also much higher than compared to the other schools at LUMS.

Some even say that the undergraduate programme was started as a fund-raising engine for the business school, which considered itself the university's flagship product. This is further reinforced by the fact that most of the alumni who contribute to the university in the form of donations or who have established linkages with industry, are graduates of the LUMS MBA programme.

The rest of the schools, which saw themselves living in the shadow of the business school, began campaigning for more financial equality. This prompted the university's financial managers to implement a stricter regime, cutting costs and salaries and curtailing privileges that many senior faculty members enjoyed.

Critics of the business school said that many professors were drawing exorbitant salaries but teaching only a few classes. Also under scrutiny were foreign tours and other such perks availed by business school professors. All this was done, ostensibly, to improve the financial viability of the SDSB.

According to one source, nearly 25 percent of the university's cash deficit was attributed to alleged 'overspending' at the SDSB, a claim denied by its faculty members. "We teach people how to make money. How is it possible for us to be losing money? Eighty percent of the revenue comes from 20 percent (the SDSB) of the LUMS faculty," a senior professor said.

He also went on to say that the SDSB had the lowest deficit of all the departments at LUMS.

Sources said that the university's vice chancellor Dr Ahmed J Durrani and SDSB Dean Dr Shaukat Ali Brah were both 'outsiders', appointed to break the so-called hegemony that business school faculty enjoyed.

Before their appointment, senior faculty members often manned the posts in rotation. But when budget cuts and other such measures were proposed, Dr Brah apparently sided with his team at the SDSB, resisting the 'unprecedented and unwarranted' cuts.

This sparked a confrontation at the highest levels, which came to a head when a Rs 2 billion grant, originally meant for the SDSB, was awarded instead to the new School of Science and Engineering, which one faculty member sarcastically called "the new flagship". Daily times

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2.5m students of 5th & 8th classes appear in board exams
Lahore: Chairman, Punjab Chief Minister's Taskforce on Elementary Education, Raja Muhammad Anwar has said that 2.5 million students of 5th and 8th classes appeared in board exams simultaneously in across the Punjab and one lac seventy six thousand teachers were engaged to supervise the examinations.

This large scale of students' participation in boards' exams is a historical record in the Asia. He further said that all publishers had been warned to issue all sort of guess papers during one month period prior to the commencement of examinations.

He expressed these views while talking to the Director Aga Khan University Examination Board Dr. Thomas Christie in a meeting at Karachi today. Assessment and training specialist of Edlinks Co. Javed Ali Chaudhry also attended the meeting, Raja Anwar informed that examination papers were being prepared and checked under "Cluster Base System" by the competent and professional persons in the province.

The remuneration for paper checkers has also been increased, he added. He further said that all examination boards shall make the answer sheets checked through E-Marking System and Punjab government was seeking recommendations and suggestions from various companies engaging in preparation of software for conducting the transparent boards' examinations.

On this occasion, Training Specialist of Edlinks Co. Javed Ali Chaudhry while giving briefing regarding preparation and checking of examination papers and e-marking system informed that chain of Grammer Schools and other known school systems in the country were affiliated with Aga Khan University Examination Board.

He disclosed that affiliated educational institutions were showing better results under the guidance of Aga khan Examination Board in connection with preparation of examination papers, paper checking through e-marking system and result preparation as well.

Later, Raja Anwar visited e-marking centre, strong room of Aga Khan University Examination Board besides Al-Murtaza School established at PECHS Society. F.P Report

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Education vital to development
Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Friday said the Punjab government was paying special attention on training of teachers as only qualified and properly trained teachers can equip the young with the latest knowledge.

He was talking to Portal Education Group led by Kishwar Hameed at the Chief Minister's Secretariat on Friday. The CM said that promotion of quality education especially vocational education was the need of the hour for the development of the country and revolutionary measures taken by the government for the uplift of education sector have started yielding positive results. He said there was still a lot to be done for the development of education sector and elimination of ignorance and illiteracy.

The CM said that promotion of literacy and quality education was essential for achieving the objective of national development. He said uplift of education sector and imparting latest knowledge to youth was his top priority and all resources were being utilized for this purpose. He said that foundation of a revolution had been laid in education sector by setting up IT labs in 4,286 schools of the province while recruitment of 37,000 educators on merit was another achievement of the government.

The CM said that most educators were highly qualified and out of them 63 percent were M.Phil, MA and MSc which is a proof of the fact that only qualified and eligible teachers had been selected to educate the young. He said that training of teachers was of key importance for the promotion of education, however, little attention was paid to this aspect in the past. He said that now the government has evolved a comprehensive plan for teachers' training.

The CM praised the effort of MNA Saira Afzal Tarrar and Taskforce Chairman Raja Muhammad Anwar for training of teachers. He said the process of teachers' training should be extended to the lower level so that properly trained teachers could be available at every level. He directed officers concerned to strengthen the training system and bring about such changes which could yield positive results as early as possible. He directed that a compressive plan should be submitted to him within two weeks with regard to teachers' training after keeping all its aspects in view. He said that Portal Education Group has the required expertise in teachers' training and various sectors of education and officers concerned should also hold meetings with it to benefit from its experience. He further said that recommendations and experiences of the Group should also be kept in view with regard to the progamme of teachers' training.

Earlier, the leader of the Group Kishwar Hameed informed that her group has expertise in teachers' training, preparation of syllabus and improvement of IT and other education sectors.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the young generation being custodian of the future should spare no effort for the progress and prosperity of the country and regaining its lost status. He said that government was providing all out resources for polishing the talent of students and position holders of different examinations are being sent on study tours abroad for their encouragement and promotion of self-confidence in them.

He expressed these views at the departure of students who obtained second position in Matric, FA, FSc, BA and BSc examinations on a study tour of Iran at Chief Minister's Secretariat on Friday. Provincial Minister for Education Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman and Secretaries of Higher Education and Schools were also present on the occasion.

Talking to position-holder students, the CM said the Punjab government had evolved a comprehensive programme for the encouragement of brilliant students under which 20 students who had obtained top positions last year were sent to a study tour of prestigious seats of learning of Britain and Germany and now second position-holders are being sent on a 7-day study tour of brotherly Islamic country of Iran.

He said that though he and members of his delegation had paid expenses of their foreign visits from their own pockets but the government is bearing the expenses on the visit of brilliant students and Rs 4,000,000 have been allocated for their visit to Iran. He said that the objective of these measures is encouragement of young generation and promotion of a spirit of competition in the students so that they could gain latest knowledge and play their role for national development.

He said that scholarships are being given to thousands of such talented students as were facing financial problems in pursuing their academic activities. He said that scholarships will be given to 20 outstanding students this year who are studying at LUMS and are facing problems in paying the fees of their educational institution.

He said that award of scholarships to talented students studying at other leading educational institutions in private sector is also being considered. He said that government will send five outstanding students to Ivy League universities each year for gaining such knowledge which could help them play an important role in national economy and other sectors.

He advised students to pursue their studies with national spirit and work tirelessly for changing the destiny of the country. He said that Iran has made remarkable progress in education sector and the students will personally observe this fact during their visit to the educational institutions of Tehran, Isfahan, Sheraz and Fardousi. He stressed upon students to represent their counties in a proper manner in Iran and try to learn maximum from their visit. The students paid rich tributes to the efforts of the Chief Minister for the uplift of education sector and encouragement of students and assured that they will prove to be the ambassador of Pakistan in Iran in the real sense.

CM constitutes advisory council for social development: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has constituted Chief Minister's Advisory Council for social sector development.

The CM will be the Chairman of the Council while Haroon Khawaja will be its Secretary. Its members will are: Dr Ejaz Nabi, Dr Naveed Hamid, Eman Aslam, Dr Zafar Iqbal Qureshi, Dr Ali Cheema, Shaukat Elahi, Nadeem Babar and Saad Ehsanuddin.

Ahmad Mahmood calls on CM: MPA Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood called on Punjab Chief Minister at Chief Minister's Secretariat and apprised him of the pace of development schemes being carried out in his constituency.

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1-day IT exhibition
Lahore: Punjab government is organising a one-day IT exhibition on Saturday (today) where the NComputing Inc, USA, will showcase its virtual desktop technology which is used in IT labs project in 4,286 secondary schools of the province.

A statement issued here Friday said the exhibition was being organised to create awareness among the public and educationists about the importance of the IT in imparting computer education to schoolchildren.

A model computer lab, similar to the labs established in the government schools, using NComputing technology, was established at the exhibition where visitors could experience the benefits of shared desktop technology. The news

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