BA, BSc exams & unethical techniques

Candidates using 'unethical techniques' to pass BA/BSc exams
Lahore, June 26: A number of candidates in BA/BSc examinations adopt the means of writing statements, Quranic verses, Ahadis, and religious poetry in order to portray themselves as innocent, deserving or poor to attain sympathy and undue favours from the examiners, it is learnt.

Examples of such answer sheets indicate that it is mostly students who are not well prepared who adopt this strategy to get passing marks in the examinations.

UMC: PU Controller Examiner Zahid Karim Khan said that they had already warned the students of harsh consequences in case they used such "foul techniques". Any student caught writing such sympathy-gaining material will be treated under an Unfair Means Case (UMC), he said.

A number of candidates who appeared in the BA/BSc 2010 annual examination were caught committing such unethical means to score marks, which paved the way for the authorities concerned to take action against them under a UMC.

An examiner seeking anonymity said that the trend of writing such statements was common this year and that it was mostly the students of social sciences and art subjects who seemed to be in the habit of indulging in such activities.

He said that examiners usually marked answer sheets while staying neutral and in accordance with the university policy, adding that however, in many cases they tended to grant favours against their wishes when students emotionally blackmail them.

Another examiner said that sometimes the examiners ignore such sympathy-gaining material, as they are concerned about the future of the students and do not want them to squander their energy in cases such as UMCs.

He said it was a tragedy that students at graduate level had the habit of indulging in such "cheap" acts, adding that mostly it was girls who wrote their contact numbers and sometimes begged favours either "because their parents were ill or because their engagements might dissolve if they failed the exams".

Hassan, a BA/BSc student said that the purpose of writing such statements and Quranic verses was to attain sympathy marks. He said that students generally adopted such means when they get confused in papers and do not know how to begin the exam.

Zahid Karim said the PU's chief security officer overviews the answer sheets prior to sending them to students and make the UMCs accordingly. He said that students are clearly instructed to refrain from writing anything extra on their papers at the time of allotting roll numbers.

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PU prof clarifies allegations of ineligibility
Lahore: Assistant professor at the Punjab University's Institute of Communication Studies, Dr Affira Hamid Ali, has clarified that Dr Mugheesuddin, former director of ICS in MPhil and PhD semesters, illegally passed two of his "blue-eyed colleagues", violating the university's examination rules.

Commenting on a news item sent by two of her junior colleagues, Naveed Iqbal and Shafiq Kamboh, in response to a news item published on June 21, she said Dr Mughees "took everything in his hand and established his own exam system parallel to that of the university" during his tenure as the ICS director. Naveed and Kamboh are illegal beneficiaries of the "system" crafted by Dr Mughees, she added.

She said she has submitted a detailed complaint to the vice chancellor against Dr Mughees and the current ICS Director Ahsen Akhter Naz. The VC ordered a probe into the matter and appointed Prof Dr Rass Masood, chairman of the Botany department, as the inquiry officer.

In a published clarification, she said, Naveed and Kamboh had wrongly stated that the issue had been settled through an internal inquiry and the VC's order for an inquiry proved that the probe against Dr Mughees is still under process.

"They have wrongly mentioned in the clarification that I submitted my complaint against Dr Mughees because he declared me ineligible for professorship for not possessing a PhD degree. This is all false and baseless, and I have attached a copy of my PhD degree as a proof," Dr Affira stated.

She said her ineligibility issue raised by the accused is entirely separate from the complaint she submitted and she did not want to comment on the matter as it is still in court. She also alleged that Dr Mughees was putting his illegal beneficiaries in the middle and providing misleading information.

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PU summer vacations will start from July 5
Lahore: The Punjab University (PU) and its associate departments and colleges will remain closed for summer vacations from July 5 to September 17. Earlier, the university was closed for 20 days after the Islami Jamiat Taliba (IJT) activists assaulted the disciplinary committee head of the university and injured him severely. Based on this closure, the administration made students attend classes for a longer period this year in order to cover the courses. The PU Law College Society of International Law is organising a seminar on the "Indus Water Treaty" today (Saturday) at 10am in the auditorium of the Dr Pervaiz Hassan Environmental Law Centre. Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, the Indus Water Commissioner, Hamid Khan and Anwar Kamal will talk on the subject. Justice (r) Ali Nawaz Chowhan will chair the seminar.

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Only 18 foreign medical students out of 507 pass licensing exam
Lahore: Only 18 out of 507 medical graduates from 15 countries passed the licensing exam conducted by the National Examination Board (NEB) to determine the professional competence of foreign qualified doctors.

The NEB announced the result of the registration exam of foreign medical and dental graduates on Friday, showing an overall passing percentage of 3.5 percent. None of the seven dental graduates who appeared in the exam got through. The NEB is a body constituted by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to conduct examinations for the registration and equivalence of a candidate's foreign medical and dental qualifications.

The examination is conducted twice a year and is mandatory for every foreign doctor or dentist to pass before starting to practice in Pakistan.

Members of the NEB, along with University of Health and Sciences Vice Chancellor Professor MH Mubbashar in the chair, announced the result in a press conference.

According to the details, 207 candidates from China appeared in the exam out of which only six passed, 110 appeared from the Kyrgyz Republic and three passed, 69 appeared from Kazakhstan and only five passed, four appeared from Bangladesh out of which two passed, while one candidate each from Lithuania and Kenya could get through the exam. No candidate from Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, Damascus, Dominican Republic, Philippine, Romania, Georgia and Ukraine passed. Daily times

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GCU programme
Lahore: Government College University (GCU) Career Guidance and Placement Centre organized an "On-campus Technology Awareness and Recruitment Programme" in collaboration with national and international companies to build a strong foundation for professional career of its students and to raise awareness among them about the ongoing advances in technology. According to a press statement, the stalls of various computer and mobile companies remained the centre of attraction on the campus. The news

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