Karachi university BS, Masters admission process

BS, Masters admissions started at Karachi university
Karachi, Oct 29: The admission process for BS Honours and Masters started at the University of Karachi (KU) on Wednesday, announced KU Admissions Director Salim Shahzad.

Shahzad said that the KU will induct up to 3,000 students in the BS programmes and up to 2,000 in the Masters programmes this year. He stated that the admission policy is the same as that of the previous year. year However, 30 seats each have been increased for candidates from interior Sindh as well as those from Balochistan, he said.

The last date for the submission of the application forms at the authorized branches is November 7.

Admission forms are available at 17 authorised branches of United Bank Limited, while forms and prospectus could be obtained for Rs500 each or downloaded from the university website, www.uok.edu.pk.

SBTE, UNIDO jointly impart technical training: The Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE), in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has been organising General Technician Training Programmes for Refrigeration Technicians across Sindh for the last two years. An announcement on Wednesday said that 440 trainees were being imparted training each year and given a monthly stipend of Rs2, 000.

At a ceremony held after the conclusion of the course at SBTE, the trainees were given equipment worth about Rs3, 000 gratis.

Generic BS Nursing result announced: The Pakistan Nursing Council has declared that all the candidates who appeared in the second licensing examination of Generic BS Nursing for the Baqai Medical University (BMU) were successful.

Chancellor BMU, Dr Fareeduddin Baqai and Vice Chancellor, Lieutenant General (Retd) Dr Azhar Ahmed appraised the 100 per cent result and congratulated the candidates. The news

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KU engineering course without PEC approval
Karachi: Even though its has been three years since the introduction of an engineering programme at Karachi University (KU), it still has not obtained the mandatory approval of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) for its BE chemical engineering programme nor has it upgraded its infrastructure and facilities, it has been learnt.

Under the PEC Act, 1976 engineers are required to be registered with the PEC in order to practise. The institution registers only those engineers who have bachelor degrees accredited by the PEC, according to engineer Niaz Ahmed, PEC deputy registrar accreditation.

Students in the department expressed their anger over the slow place of the accreditation process and accused the administration of "playing with their future".

"Students have been protesting against the old infrastructure and poor facilities being offered to them for many years. It's difficult to accept that there is a shortage of funds as one can see numerous buildings under construction all over the university. What is our fault?" asked a group of students.

When students protested last year, about the general state of affairs and because the programme wasn't accredited, some funding was provided to the department from the administration as a result of which lab facilities were purchased, students claimed.The department now is in the old buildings of what used to be the genetics and food and science and technology departments. A visit to the department showed that the buildings were in abysmal state and no classroom was available to the students.

"Our classes are held in the old block of applied chemistry. Earlier, labs used to be held in the same place or at the NED engineering university. But, for some time, with the arrival of equipment, labs are now being held in the department," they said.

Even though students seemed satisfied with the faculty members, they had complaints about the library which is simply a small room stocked with a collection of only a few books.

Apart from the aggrieved students, the contradictory statements of officials over the existence of an engineering faculty at the university are confusing. While Dr Fasihullah Khan, the chairman of the department of chemical engineering, insists that there is an engineering faculty being looked after by the dean of science, Mohammad Abid, deputy registrar general, denies it.

At the moment, over 150 students are studying at the department, with about 117 enrolled in the BE programme.

Needs of department ignored In 1985 the university started a four-year undergraduate programme in chemical technology (BCT) at the applied chemistry department. The programme ran into trouble soon after and got closed for new admissions due to financial problems.

In 1995, the programme was offered again, this time in the evening. Protests from students over lab timings late in the evening and the fact that the PEC does not accredit evening programmes forced the administration to start the programme in the morning.

A separate chemical engineering department, however, was set up in 2004, according to the KU website. The department started offering BE in chemical engineering from January 2007.

According to sources, the university's administration is at fault on two accounts: firstly, it did not seek permission from the PEC before the launch of the BE programme and, secondly, it made no effort to improve facilities for an engineering programme before or after its introduction.

"The university had been generously funded by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) until 2007. And over the last five to seven years, over a dozen development projects have been completed on the campus. But they didn't include any for the establishment of a new infrastructure for the engineering department," an officer commented.

It is interesting to note that the budget document 2009-2010 makes no mention of either the engineering department or the engineering faculty. Currently, there are a number of projects under execution at different stages of development. These include infrastructure for a new administration block, department of public administration, a business school, a girls' gymnasium, pharmacy faculty and a clinic.

"The total amount comes to around Rs290 million. It is unfortunate that the university failed to realise the needs of the students who are suffering and again no amount was allocated to erect a new structure for the chemical engineering department," regrets an official.

According to sources, the department had submitted PC-1 thrice to the administration for upgrading facilities. The first PC-1 with a project cost of Rs40 million was submitted in 2005 and the last with a project cost of Rs160 million in 2006. There has been no response yet to these requests.

Dr Fasihullah Khan said that the PEC introduced the condition of the zero visit (inspection visit before the launch of the programme) in 2006 and the university did not know about it.

"The PEC publicised this condition in the newspapers in 2006. We wrote a letter to the PEC in 2007 but there was no response. Now, we intend to apply within weeks and expect the PEC team to visit us in December," Dr Khan said.

About infrastructural problems, he said that the department had been facing financial problems from the very beginning and efforts were being made to sort them out.

"Along with some KU funding, Pakistan Petroleum Limited has given us Rs8.5 million. We are in the process of purchasing equipment from that money and would utilise the rest to build a new block. We have 11 full-time teachers, most of whom are engineers," he said, adding that the syllabus had been approved by the HEC.

Regarding PEC accreditation, engineer Niaz Ahmed said time was running out for KU and it must speed up its efforts to meet the accreditation criteria.

"They (KU administration) have not yet sent the forms for a zero visit. The condition was introduced in 2005 and publicised the same year. As soon as we receive the form, we will look into the case. If they are up to the mark, they will get the accreditation in a few months," he said, adding that the engineers lacking PEC registration were not considered for jobs.

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Karachi university to seek legal advice on plagiarism cases
Karachi: In the absence of any policy on plagiarism, Karachi University (KU) will seek legal advice to determine disciplinary action against three senior university teachers who have been found guilty of plagiarism in the inquiries conducted by two retired judges.

A decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting of the KU syndicate where the findings of retired justices Saleem Akhtar and Haziqul Khairi were presented.

The syndicate members decided that the matter should be referred to a legal expert to determine further course of action.

Currently, the university has no policy on plagiarism, nor has it adopted the HEC guidelines on plagiarism as it takes such a charge as "misconduct" and investigates accordingly.

During the meeting it was pointed out that some cases under the review could be granted "relief" under the HEC plagiarism policy as was done in a similar case at the Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan.

Referring to the HEC policy, a syndicate member said that a researcher could be forgiven for plagiarism if the act was committed before the announcement of the policy (on September 27, 2007) and if the accused had apologised in writing and not taken any benefit from its plagiarised research.

The KU administration had appointed the two judges as inquiry officers to investigate the alleged plagiarism by dean of the Islamic Studies Prof (Dr) Jalaluddin Ahmed Noori, chairman of the chemistry department; Prof (Dr) Saeed Arayne and former dean of Pharmacy Prof (Dr) Najma Sultana (wife of Dr Arayne).

The inquiry was instituted after the KU syndicate approved the findings of an internal committee which found the senior teachers involved in plagiarism.

The KU administration had also decided to suspend the two teachers and sack Dr Zakia Bibi, who was an ad-hoc teacher at the Chemistry department and accused of plagiarism.

While a final decision on the plagiarism cases lingers on, the KU administration is yet to file a reply to the ombudsman's office which had directed the KU vice-chancellor earlier this month to withdraw the orders of action against Dr Zakia Bibi, Dr Saeed Arayne and Dr Najma Sultana.

The ombudsman gave the decision on a plea filed by Dr Zakia Bibi that she had been sacked without being served a show-cause notice.

Upon deciding the case, the ombudsman also provided relief to Dr Arayne and Dr Sultana who acted as interveners in the proceedings.

It is important to mention here that the code of the university makes no mention of ad-hoc teachers' status, although the university has a large number of ad-hoc employees working as teachers.

The syndicate, in its different meetings, has passed some resolutions on their status. Dawn

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Media journal launched
Karachi: Vice Chancellor University of Karachi (KU) Dr Pirzada Qasim has advised the media to change the people's mindset in right direction in order to create equilibrium in society and thus increasing the media's credibility in the country.

He gave this advice to the media and prospective journalists at the launching ceremony of the journal of Dr Feroz Ahmed Institute of Mass Communication held at the Arts Auditorium on Wednesday. He stressed the need for forming a full fledged advertising company by the institute, adding that the institution had the talent, workforce and professional knowledge to achieve the goal. He assured the institute's students of setting up the TV lab soon.

Dean Faculty of Arts Dr Muhammad Shamsuddin, who is a senior professor of Mass Communication, said that the Mass Communication Institute had 40 years of glorious history and it has produced journalists who are recognised nationally and internationally. He praised the students and Chairperson Dr Rafia Taj in bringing out their own journal in style.

Senior Journalist Humair Ishtiaq spoke with spontaneous wit and humour that was largely appreciated by the audience. He talked about the class system that was previously only three ñ lower, middle and upper classes, saying, but now two more classes ñ lower middle and upper-middle ñ have emerged with the accumulation of wealth. The news

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Ad hoc teachers seek six-month salaries
Karachi: Nearly 600 ad-hoc college lecturers and their families are suffering from financial crises as they have been deprived of salaries for the last six months by the Sindh Education Department.

Despite the solemn promises made by the government, job regularisation notices have not been issued to the ad hoc college lecturers, some employees complained. They said, "The relatives have stopped giving loan to us, now we are unable to purchase bread and butter for our children. On the other hand, politicians and government officials are busy in attending ceremonies and functions regardless of what is going on with us as well as our families.

Provincial Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq and Sindh Chief Secretary have turned from their assurance to regularise all the adhoc lecturers in the province. They have been tranquillised with the authority; they have forgotten god. We are suffering the punishment of obtaining higher education and selecting the noble profession. This is unfortunate for us that the corrupt government officials and politicians are on the positions to make decision of over lives and future."

Commenting on the issue, central leader of Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) Professor Ather Hussain Mirza said that the matter of regularisation of ad hoc teachers had become serious issue. Apparently the government has failed to resolve the issues of lecturers and educational institutions in the province.

"Around 550 college teachers are waiting for their promotion from 17 to 18 grades for the last four years. Under the chair of Secretary Education Rizwan Memon, Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) had approved the promotion of such teachers from 17 to 18 grades in the meeting held on March 30, 2009. Seven months have passed but none of such teachers has got the promotion letter yet. Before the DPC such teachers have been waiting for the said promotion for the last three years. Such lethargic attitude of Sindh Education Department shows their lack of attention towards the quandaries of teachers and college education as well. At such apathetic behaviour of the Sindh Education Department, teachers' community will be bound to stage protest and observe black days in and outside the institutions.". The nation

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BISE notified dates for accepting exam forms
Larkana: The Controller of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Larkana, has notified that examination forms from eligible candidates of Science and General groups for appearing in the SSC Part-1 and Part-11 (Class IX-X) annual examination 2010 will be entertained/ accepted through affiliated institutions according to the schedule without late fee from 23rd October, 2009-23rd Nov, 2009 and with late fee of Rs 200 from November 24 to December 7, 2009.

The forms will be accepted with late fee of Rs 400 from December 8 to December 16, 2009, with late fees of Rs 600 from December 17 to December 26, 2009 and with late fee of Rs 1,000 from December 29, 2009 to January 16, 2010, he added.

Another announcement said the candidates who had passed their SSC Part-II annual examination 2009 and intended to improve their marks and grades by appearing in the SSC Part-I & II annual examination will be facilitated to appear in one or two subjects within one year of passing the relevant examination after fulfillment of conditions on or before the schedule with usual fees of Rs 500 from October 26 to November 25, with late fee of Rs 300 from November 26 to December 10, 2009, with late fee of Rs 500 from December 11 to 26, 2009 with late fee of Rs 1,000 from December 29, 2009 to January 9, 2010 the announcement added. The news

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Irregularities in SPSC test alleged
Naushahro Feroze: The candidates who had appeared in a written test held by the Sindh Public Service Commission took out a procession and held a demonstration on Wednesday, demanding the test held on Oct 20 should be cancelled and conducted again.

The protesters led by Azfar Memon, Izhar Makhdoom, Zahid Siyal and Ahmed Solangi alleged that the questions were out of the prescribed subjects.They alleged that they were not allowed to take the question paper home and seal of the papers' bundles was not opened before them as was practice under set rules.

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Student kidnapped
Khairpur: A student of class VII was kidnapped from Kot Lalu, Faiz Gunj taluka, on Tuesday evening.

He was identified as Adil, son of Sajjad Arain. He disappeared while returning to his home during Isha prayers time. His relatives began a massive manhunt but could not find his whereabouts. Later, it was confirmed that the boy had been kidnapped.-Correspondent . Dawn

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