International Education Expo | GCU students protest

Students throng Education Expo
Lahore, Apr 30: Hundreds of students thronged the International Education Expo 10 on its concluding day at a local hotel here on Thursday.

The two-day event organised by the HR Consultants (Pvt) Ltd with the media partnership of the Jang Group which kicked off on Wednesday attracted hundreds of students and people from different walks of life.

Representatives from dozens of top ranking universities of Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada had set up stalls in the expo where the visitors were given free of charge information on the spot.

The students showed keen interest in the expo and expressed satisfaction with presence of professionals in the field of foreign education. They held detailed discussions with the representatives related to studying abroad. They were briefed on admission requirement, fee structure and visa related matters.

The foreign universities were offering vast range of courses in the fields of Engineering, Fashion Design, Business, MBA, Computer Engineering, Public Health, Health Services and Medicines and many more.

A number of visitors welcomed the initiative, saying such events should be organised on a regular basis as they were of great help for those planning to study abroad.

A visitor, Shiraz Ahmed, said the expo helped the students seeking educational opportunities abroad with free of charge information and guidance.

"The event has added to my experience," he said, adding, "Such events should be held on a regular basis."

Abdullah Farhan, another visitor, said it was great to have representatives of top Australian universities here in Pakistan.

"The expo is quite helpful as information about dozens of universities is available and that too under one roof," he maintained. A visiting student, Fatima, said that the opportunity of direct interaction with representatives of foreign universities was a great service.

"One can get information through the internet but guidance and support extended to the visitors in the expo are more helpful and interesting," she said. One Maryam said that besides admission-related matters, information about visa was very helpful for her and many other visitors like her.

One of the directors of the HR Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, Hamid Rauf, said that though Australian universities were focus of the expo, universities from New Zealand, the US and Canada also participated in the event.

Hamid Rauf said the HR Consultants was a trusted partner of Australia since 1993, adding that it was a matter of honour that the firm was official representative of many top Australian universities in Pakistan. He said a similar two-day expo would be organised at Islamabad starting from May 2, 2010. Janet Mountseer, Marketing Consultant, Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, said the expo was a good experience which provided the students with an opportunity to come and know about universities of Australia and other countries as well.

Muhammad Nauman, a visitor, said the event provided individual counseling sessions for students which was certainly a good job.

The major participants of the International Education Expo 10 included the Australian National University, Murdoch University, University of New Castle, Deakin University, Swinburne University of Technology, Central Queensland University, University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong (Dubai), La Trobe University, Griffith University, Kangan Institute, NMIT, Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, TAFE NSW, Melbourne Institute of Technology.

The universities which participated from New Zealand in the expo were the Lincoln University, University of Waikato, University of Massey, WINTEC, WELTEC, MIT, UNITEC and PIHMS, from Canada Simon Fraser University and University of Manitoba while from USA the universities included Western Kentucky University, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and University of Massachusetts Boston. The news

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GCU students protest
Lahore: Dozens of students and their parents on Thursday protested against the Government College University (GCU) administration for withholding their admissions to appear in intermediate examinations 2010.

The protestors told the reporters that the GCU administration had displayed the list of the dropped candidates on April 29 while the Intermediate Annual Examinations 2010 would start from May 8. They alleged that the GCU administration had tried to spoil the students' future by declaring them ineligible to take the exams. It is learnt that a total of 18 students had been restrained from appearing in the intermediate exam.

Meanwhile, in a press statement, the GCU spokesman said that a few intermediate students of the university had been restrained from appearing in the annual examination 2010 under the rules and regulations of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Lahore. He said that according to the BISE, Lahore, rules, a student was bound to attend minimum 75 percent of the delivered lectures, otherwise, he/she was not be allowed to sit in the annual examinations.

GCU Director Intermediate Studies Anjum Nisar said that only 87 of 2000 GCU intermediate students fell short of the mandatory requirement of the board. However, he said, these 88 students also included those who had migrated to other universities or had left the university for other reasons.

He said "the board required the educational intuitions to send an undertaking to it that the students have attended minimum 75 percent of the total delivered lectures. If any student fails to attend 75 percent lectures, the board requires the educational intuitions to intimate this to it minimum 14 days before the commencement of the examination. He said that the GCU would have no objection if board changes or relaxes the rules for the students," the statement concluded. The news

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90 Intermediate students barred from appearing in examinations
Lahore: Several students of the GCU along with their parents protested outside the university main gate on Thursday against the university decision of declaring several students ineligible to appear in the annual exams.

Students from the intermediate classes were holding placards inscribed with their demands, while their parents raised slogans against the "rude" attitude of the university administration. The protestors also staged a sit in, blocking any kind of traffic to the main university road.

The GCU administration wrote to the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) not to allow nearly 90 intermediate students to appear in the annual exams because of short attendance. There are nearly 15 part I and 72 part II students who have been declared ineligible by the university administration for not fulfilling the 75 percent attendance criterion. The administration claimed to have informed parents about the decision before declaring them ineligible. However, parents maintained that the university administration only notified them after declaring students ineligible and did not "bother" to intimate them beforehand. They demanded that the administration should show the correspondence to the media if they were in the right. Father of a student said the administration accepts that students were regular in classes before January and the attendance shortage started only afterwards. He said students had to miss classes at times because of the security situation. "Students should not be persecuted for missing just a few classes…the decision will cost students one full academic year," he said, adding that these demands were falling on the "deaf ears", as the attitude of administration with parents was very "rude". He alleged when parents asked the vice chancellor to bring the correspondence to the media, he plainly refused to do so.

Talking to reporters, Intermediate Studies Director Professor Anjum Nisar said these students have been declared ineligible because they did not meet the 75 percent attendance criterion set by the BISE. He said the university administration has been informing students from time to time. To a question on informing the parents, he said the administration was not bound to intimate parents. Daily times

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Medic's suicide bid after viva failure
Lahore: An MBBS student of the Fatima Memorial Medical College-cum-hospital suffered injuries when he jumped from the second floor of hospital's building in an attempt to commit suicide in Shadman on Thursday.

Awon Muhammad, 21, a student of third professional, got dejected after he could not pass the supplementary exam.

Quoting witnesses, the Ichhra station house officer said Awon of the EME Housing Society, Chuhng, jumped from the second floor of the Fatima Memorial Hospital.

The SHO said Awon failed in a subject and appeared in the supplementary exam. He topped the written paper, but failed in viva with one mark. He apparently took the step in extreme disappointment.

He said the hospital administration had suspended from service his teacher, Dr Shahnaz, who also did not pass her daughter in the exam. Dawn

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