KARACHI, July 21: Despite the recommendations of the National Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC), on Electronics, for immediate establishment of electronics departments at all general and engineering varsities in the public sector, no action has so far been taken either by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) or Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.

The committee, which was formed by officials of the defunct University Grants Commission (UGC), had also recommended for introducing four-year professional degree programme in electronics at the varsities, in line with their respective statutes and requirements.

It was also decided that the committee would also finalize a set of courses for the programme, but nothing had been done in this respect too.

Currently, the University of Peshawar is offering electronics as an elective subject at the BSc level, while the Karachi and the Quaid-i-Azam Universities offer two-year MSc degree courses with specialization in the same subject. University of Sindh offers a four-year course in the discipline leading to a masters degree.

In addition to that, only diploma and certificate courses are offered by various technical institutes and public sector engineering universities to meet the requirements of local industry, which hires a large number of students having the Diploma in Associate Engineering (DAE).

However, some recently established varsities and engineering colleges offer Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) and masters degrees in electronics.

The NCRC, in its meeting held in 1998, had also recommended renaming of the KU’s department of Applied Physics, which conducts MSc courses in electronics, as the Department of Electronics and Applied Physics, in order to bring it in line with other electronics departments of various universities of the country.

The committee had also recommended that a large number of electronic professionals be trained at all levels, i.e. academic, engineering, technical and support, within the next few years to establish a substantial indigenous resource base.

The NCRC intended to declare electronics a professional subject like Computer Sciences and Information Technology.

The committee had also suggested introduction of Electronics as a subject at the BSc level such as Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science in all the provinces of the country.

It had also demanded appropriate funding by the federal and provincial governments for the development of electronics laboratories in varsities and colleges.

The NCRC had also stressed for appointment of electronic professionals, one each from the general and engineering side, on the board of governors and curriculum committee of the technical education boards in the country.

The committee had also suggested the appointment of technical personnel, at least in Grade-16, with B Tech qualifications to manage electronics laboratories.—PPI