Karachi university BS admissions 2010
KU admission process hit by political pressures
Karachi, March 07: Political pressures mainly from the parties in the coalition
government are responsible for a number of irregularities in the BS (bachelor of
studies) admission process at Karachi University with a significant number of
students getting admission at the cost of those who deserved it. The
extent of political pressure can be gauged from the fact that the head of the
admission committee, Prof Dr Saleem Shehzad, was recently locked in his room for
over half an hour by student-cum-political activists who wanted their colleagues
enrolled in the university. Prof Dr Shehzad was lucky that he rang up
the administration and was rescued by the Rangers after half an hour, but no
action was taken against the culprits involved in this act of humiliating a
teacher. A similar incident took place last year, which was widely
reported in the media but no action followed. So merit has naturally taken a
backseat. According to sources, the admission process that should have
been completed in December last year continues as more and more students are
reportedly being admitted to the departments. This year, around 4,800 students
were given BS admissions, according to Prof Dr Saleem Shehzad. So far,
the university has issued three merit lists and as many claim lists. According
to the third 'valid' claim, which is also available on the internet, 59 more
students were inducted into BS (third year) master's classes while 109 students
were inducted into BS first year. The students were asked to submit fees by Jan
20. A claim list is issued when there are objections to the merit list
on grounds that deserving students with higher percentages have been deprived of
admissions. According to sources, the issuance of three claim lists by
the KU administration clearly shows that the merit lists earlier issued were
faulty as they were later challenged. Secondly, the large number of students
inducted through various claim lists point to the extent of irregularities.
This, however, does not include the individual cases which are still being
attended to at departments. There are also serious concerns over the
lack of teachers' involvement in the admission process, which, according to KU
teachers, has entirely been left to clerical staff. "Though there are 16
members of the admission committee which involve teachers, most of them exist
only on paper. The entire job of data management and verification is handled by
clerks," a teacher said, adding that the process of marksheet verification was
not being properly followed. Regarding the problems being faced due to
the increased admissions, a teacher said that science departments were
particularly facing difficulties due to lack of infrastructural facilities and
shortage of staff. "The number of students has been increased without
considering the student-teacher ratio, classroom and lab facilities. We have
pointed out this anomaly to the administration many times," she said.
Voicing teachers' reservations over the
admission process, Prof Dr Fayyaz Vaid, the secretary of the Karachi University
Teachers Society, said the university had limited resources and increased
admissions beyond the declared seat allocation had been a constant headache for
the university teachers for the last few years. "At an academic
council's meeting held last year before the admissions, I had raised the same
point and called upon the administration that they should not give admissions
more than the stated seat limit. Also, I requested that the administration must
send the details of admissions offered on quotas. This is the area where there
are chances of easy manipulations," he said. Commenting on the current
centralised admission procedure, Dr Vaid said there was a dire need to
decentralise the system. "The centralisation of authority in a few individuals
may lead to misuse of powers. Hence, there is a genuine need to involve a few
teachers from every department in the admission process." Prof
Dr Saleem Shehzad, head of the KU admission committee,
admitted that he had been facing immense pressures from political parties during
the admission process for the past two years. "Yes, I was locked in by
PSF student activists a few days ago. But they didn't threaten or harass me.
They were demanding admission for some students who were not eligible."
Dr Shehzad denied that new admissions were still being made. When asked
about increasing the number of departmental seats and issuance of three claim
lists, he said: "Actually, many students didn't submit their fees on
time. We assumed that the students were not interested in admission and called
other students who were on the waiting list. Later, the students submitted their
fees and caused some problem in a few departments. However, no teacher
complained to me on this issue in writing." According to Dr Shehzad, the
checking of educational credentials was the responsibility of the enrollment
section and last year admissions of 16 students were cancelled. "It
takes time. And, usually, it's after a semester that we get details about the
genuineness of marksheets." About teachers' involvement, he said the
departments were asked to get involve in the verification of their students'
academic credentials, but none except a few responded. Dawn
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KU announces MA final (external) results
Karachi: The University of Karachi on Saturday announced the results of
MA final external annual examinations 2008. Some 2,151 candidates
appeared in the examinations. Waqas Ahmed Ansari, with 598 marks out of
the maximum 1,000 marks, was declared first. Asma Yasmeen secured second
position with 596 marks and Mohammad Munieer Anwar who obtained 579 marks got
third position. APP
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LUMHS plagiarism cases
Hyderabad: A professor, two assistant professors and an associate
professor were issued warnings by the management of Liaquat University of
Medical and Health Sciences against publication of their data in any journal of
the IDOSI publications. The warnings followed recommendation by the
Plagiarism Standing Committee, formed by the LUMHS under the directives of
Higher Education Commission (HEC). Professor Dr Abdul Aziz Leghari,
Associate Professor Dr K. Altaf Hussain Talpur and assistant professors Dr A.K.
Sangrasi and Dr Arshad M. Malik were issued warnings by Registrar, LUMHS on
March 3. Besides warning, the Committee also recommended against giving
credit to any article published in any of the journals of IDOSI publications and
the HEC was requested to critically evaluate all journals and publicize any
unethical practice. The committee was constituted to look into the
complaint against seven professors, including the above four. The
Vice-Chancellor LUMHS said that the inquiry has cleared Dr Shahida Parveen and
Dr Aisha Memon as their names appeared only in one journal which did not prove
charges against them while Prof Ghulam Nabi Qureshi has retired from the
service. Dr Faisal Ghani Siddiqui is reported to have sent a compliant
to the HEC after he came across research paper's publication in two journalists.
His complaint was forwarded to LUMHS with directives for an inquiry last month. Dawn
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Book on Indian Walmarts
Karachi: Former director of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Iqbal
Ismail Calcuttawala launched his first book 'Footprints in the Sand
- The Rise and Fall of Walmarts of India' at an exclusive gathering of
dignitaries from different walks of life at a local hotel here in
Karachi. The book details the achievements of three Bantva companies that
dominated Indian trade in the early 20th century. It also shed light on the
pivotal role that Haji Habib Haji Peermohamed, Hoosen Kasam Dada and Sir Adamjee
Haji Dawood played in the struggle for independence of Pakistan under the
leadership of Quaid-i-Azam. Ismail said that the book is a chronology of
major institutions that formed the backbone of Pakistan's economy then and even
now are a part of it. He also said that he felt honoured to have penned down the
birth, rise and fall of the 'Walmarts of India'. The news
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