KU foreign students | Battle for Sindh University
For foreign students at KU, language barrier is a rude surprise
Karachi, Jan 06: Before taking admission at the University of Karachi (KU), most foreign
students look up its website and are impressed. The vast choice of
departments, the facilities it offers and the experienced faculty, all
at an affordable cost makes it the right place to be. But once inside, they realise that things are not as pleasant as they look. For Lauren*, a psychology student from Sudan, her biggest problem is that her teachers don't speak English. She has gone to them several times, requesting them to speak in English, but they just don't. "Sometimes
they begin in English then they switch back to Urdu. If I protest they
say the other students will not understand. But I see all my friends
take down lectures in English. How can they not understand?" "Sometimes they ask me to come to them after class is over. Why should I? I have other classes to attend." The
girl feels dejected. "I have stopped attending classes because I don't
understand anything. My four years will be wasted. I will not learn even
the ABC of psychology, my major." Lauren is not alone in
her woes. Aden Suxefya, from Somalia who just completed his Bachelors'
in mass communications faced the same dilemma. "All the lectures were in
Urdu. I just sat like an idiot not getting a word. I would often flunk
my exams. But towards the end of my third year, I began to grasp a bit
of Urdu and make sense [of the lectures]." Fauzia, a
student from Turkey, has learnt enough Urdu to bargain with the rickshaw
drivers. "But I still cannot understand complicated lectures. At the
end of the semester, I try to make out what little sense I can from the
notes. I used to be an outstanding student till my school days, now I
barely pass." Many of these students are scared to speak up, for they have learnt from their seniors that doing so may land them in trouble. "If
you talk about it to the chairperson or the media, teachers develop a
bias. They scold and may flunk us in the exam. This has happened to some
of my seniors," Fauzia says. Dr Mutahir Ahmed, the
president Karachi University Teachers' Society (KUTS), said that most
foreign students who came to the university were from Africa. "They
neither understand English nor Urdu." He maintains that if
a lecture is given in English, students from Karachi understand it, but
students from rural areas do not. "As a general practice, teachers
teach in English and then summarise the main points in Urdu." The
university has not organised any remedial classes for students weak in
English. Though there are compulsory English courses students have to
take. The university does not set any minimum requirement for
understanding of a language, either English or Urdu, prior to giving
admissions. Over 80 foreign students are currently studying at the
university.
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KU extends fee deposit deadline
Karachi: The University of Karachi has extended by a day the deadline for depositing
the fee for the Master's programme open merit and the entry test and
Bachelor's programme open merit and entry test. Now the candidates can deposit their fees by Tuesday at the office of dean faculty of arts between 9:30am and 1pm. Separately,
the university has announced that the faculty of pharmacy would not
admit students for the Pharm D deficiency course in year 2014. The
director of evening programme Prof Dr Abid Hussnain said the
announcements for admissions for the course would be made later this
year. The news
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KU cancels results on exam centre change
Karachi: Controller of Examinations University of Karachi Professor Dr
Arshid Azami announced on Thursday that the results of all candidates
who had changed their exam centres without permission have been
cancelled. The professor said that the university had not authorised the
candidates to choose their examination centres at their own will and
therefore their results have been cancelled. Moreover, he also said that
the date of submission of registration forms for BA, BOL (private) and
candidates who wanted their divisions improved had been extended for a
day. Students can submit their forms until Friday (today) said Prof Dr
Azami in a statement.
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Admissions at KU
Karachi: Admissions to the evening programme of University of Karachi
for academic year 2014 will start on Monday (today), announced Director
Admissions Prof Khalid Iraqi on Sunday. The admissions would be for
various disciplines in BS, Honours, Masters, Diploma and Certificate
programmes. Form with prospectus would be available until January 6 at a
cost of Rs 1,500 from 9:30am to 5:00pm from United Bank's counter at KU
Silver Jubilee Gate. Details regarding admission process can also be
obtained from the KU website.
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KU holds seminar on biotech, genetic engineering
Karachi: Knowledge based society is a must and key player in sustainable
development of a country as well as society, said Dr AQ Khan. He made
the statement on Tuesday at a special seminar on 'KIBGE-A Glimpse Since
Inception at Dr AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic
Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi (KU)'. The seminar was
arranged to highlight the development and the progress of KIBGE since
its inception. Dr Khan shared all his past experiences with the audience
regarding the initial development, infrastructure building, scientific
growth and expansion of the institute. He said he was extremely proud
that the institute, in the past decade, had produced more than 30 PhD
scholars. Sardar Yasin Malik, Member of Governing Council of the
institute, announced a grant of Rs 2.5 million for the endowment fund.
"It's good to see that the nascent plant of KIBGE is now being
transformed into a strong fruitful tree," said Dr Hasan Mujtaba Naqvi.
KIBGE Director General Prof Dr Syed Ittefaq Ali encouraged young
scientists to produce high quality products and get acknowledgement at
national and international level. Daily times
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Battle for Sindh University VC post heats up
Karachi: The Sindh government has short listed five names for the post of Vice
Chancellor of the Sindh University, the biggest public sector university
of the province but the present 80-year old Vice Chancellor Dr Nazeer
Mughul has decided to challenge the decision in the High Court. Dr.
Mughul, whose tenure will end on January 8, 2014, had obtained an order
of extension in service from the Governor of Sindh in early August 2013
for two more years and that is the basis of his upcoming challenge in
the court.But sources of Sindh government said it had been decided to
remove VC Mughul. After 'Sindh Universities Laws
(Amendment) Bill 2013', passed in the last days of August 2013, the
discretionary powers of the governor in appointing vice-chancellors of
public sector universities of the province were taken away. The governor
of Sindh now has no role in appointments or extending their service but
Dr Mughul had got the order before the changes in law were made. Dr
Mughul said that the Governor Sindh had extended his service
for a period of two more years before the changes were made in the
law.The Sindh government in the meantime advertised the post seeking
applications and a total of 43 candidates had applied for the post of
Vice Chancellor. Five names were short listed including
Secretary Education Dr Fazul Pechoho, former Secretary Sindh government
Dr Kalim Lashari, Pro-Vice Chancellors of Sindh University Anwar Ali
Shah, Imdad Ismail and Dean of Faculty of University Dr Abida Tahirani
for the post of Vice Chancellor of University of Sindh. The
criteria for the post settled by the Sindh government requires a highly
qualified person having PhD degree who should not be more than 65 age
and a candidate will not be eligible who has completed two tenures on
this post. According to this criteria Dr Mughul will not
be eligible due to his age factor but he also has almost completed his
second tenure.Dr Mughul was also accused of corruption including selling
university land and making irregular appointments. It was alleged that
in the last days of his service he promoted his blue-eyed junior
officers. Dr Mughul denied all these
allegations and said all appointments had been made according to law and
no irregularity was committed in any appointment or promotion. No land
of the University was sold out, he categorically stated.
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Fuuast announces BCom, BA exam results
Karachi: The Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast)
announced on Friday the result of the BCom (private) annual examinations
2012 held in September 2013. There were 137 registered candidates, and of them 132 appeared in the exams and 47 passed, with 35.61 pass percentage. The first position was grabbed by Zopash Arshid while the second position went to Syed Sammar Abbass. The university also announced the result of the BA (private) annual examinations 2012 held in September 2013. There
were 1,206 registered candidates, and of them 1,167 appeared in the
exams and 980 passed, with 83.98 pass percentage. The first position
was grabbed by Mehboob Farid and the second by Abdul Majid. The news
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SSUET orientation ceremony on January 16
Karachi: The orientation ceremony, part of admission process at Sir Syed
University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) would be held on
January 16, 2014, an official of the institution said here on Monday.
The results of the admission test, conducted on November 24, 2013, were
announced on December 13. According to the official, admission response
in the newly introduced programmes - Architecture, Software Engineering
and Bio-Informatics - was very positive. Earlier, the University's Board
of Governors had approved the introduction of these three new
programmes, keeping in view the high market value. In view of
introduction of new technologies and ever increasing number of admission
seekers in the existing disciplines of Computer, Electronics, Civil,
Telecommunication, Bio-Medical Engineering and Computer Science, the
SSUET has already undertaken an expansion project and the construction
of a new block is underway. On completion the new block will provide
increased space for classrooms and laboratories. Daily times
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