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| Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi |
By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan
News & Features Services)
This was disclosed by the SSUET Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi, in
an interview on April 1 in which he also spoke about the accomplishments of his
the institution.
The university, he pointed out, is offering Bachelors of Science Degree
programmes in six disciplines, civil, computer, electronic, biomedical and
telecommunications engineering besides computer science.
The Masters programme, he said, covers these six areas and in addition
offers a Masters of Science degree in Mathematics also and announced that the
graduating class which passed out recently at the 16th Convocation included the
first batch of Masters’ degree recipients for civil engineering, biomedical engineering
and mathematics.
The Ph.D programme is offered in the disciplines of electronic engineering
and computer engineering. It is only for faculty members and currently there
are 15 students pursuing Ph.D studies. It is expected that some of them will
complete their research work and receive Ph.D degree in the coming year.
He recalled that first convocation of the SSUET was held on March 27, 1998
in which 197 graduates were awarded Bachelor degree in the disciplines of
electronics and computer engineering while recently 1150 graduates in six
disciplines received the Bachelor degrees and 32 were awarded Master degree in
six disciplines.
The SSUET VC informed that since the university was established in 1994,
it has produced over 10,000 graduates in a number of disciplines ranging from
civil engineering to biomedical engineering.
Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi emphasized that the university operates on the
philosophy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan with no restrictions on admissions on the
basis of caste, creed or domicile. “The admissions are provided on the basis of
merit alone and for this reason, it has seen an increasing influx of talented
students from all parts of Pakistan,” he asserted.
The University, he continued, believes in providing its students with
access to all necessary tools to succeed with its state of the art labs
equipped with modern equipment meeting international standards in order to
provide students with practical knowledge to augment the conventional classroom
learning.
“We ensure that there is a 1:1 ratio of students to computers to enable
each individual access to a separate computer. The yearly budget allocates
funds per department for up gradation and purchase of additional equipment. The
computer engineering department currently has eight labs and a further Rs 10
million has been earmarked in this year’s budget," he revealed.
He said that the electronic engineering department was also equipped with
eight labs and a budget allocation of Rs 8.6 million made for the current
year.
He remarked that the SSUET holds the honour of being the first university
in Pakistan to introduce biomedical engineering as a discipline in 1996.
"Our graduates in this specialty provide support to major hospitals
across the country and ensure that the health care system in Pakistan is
provided with the proper maintenance of equipment and that international
standards are maintained. The biomedical engineering department currently has
nine labs with latest equipment and Rs six million allocated for the current
budget," he said.
"The civil engineering department was also setup in 1996 and is
currently the most popular discipline with over 1750 applicants competing for a
limited number of 200 seats. The department has 10 fully equipped labs and Rs 8
million allocated in the 2013 budget. The telecommunications engineering
department had its second batch graduated at 16th Convocation and it has has
seven labs with a budget allocation is Rs 4.4 million for the current
yea," the VC stated.
In addition, the University library has a rich collection of over 75,000
books and offers a book bank system whereby students can borrow books for an
entire semester.
"Our active career planning department assists graduating students in
placements as well as arranging internships," he said.
The Vice-Chancellor explained that the university has a policy,
which ensures that capable students are not deprived of education due to weak
financial position.
"The University scheme of Scholarship and Financial Assistance helps
the needy and deserving students, who have financial problems. In the fiscal
year 2012-2013, Rs 40 million allocated for the university in many other areas
also will always be valued. In addition to sports, the university also
encourages participation in extracurricular activities through its Literary Art
and Culture Forum. The forum provides an opportunity for students to take part
in debates, qiraat and naat competitions," he added.
Referring to passing out of graduating class of 2012, Prof Dr Jawed
Rizvi quoted Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as having said: “National progress is the sum
total of the individual’s labour, honour, honesty and sympathy. Similarly,
national downfall is the cumulative result of the individual’s laziness and
dishonour.”
