KARACHI: Education centres be freed of polarization, says Soomro
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 27: The NED University of Engineering and Technology conferred bachelor and masters degrees on about 830 graduates from different batches, in person or absentia, at its 12th convocation on Saturday.
The 2003-2004 convocation was the seventh in a row since 1997-98.
This year, the varsity awarded Bachelor of Computer Science and Information Technology degrees for the first time to 51 graduates.
The chancellor of public sector varsities in the province, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan presided over the convocation, while Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro delivered the convocation address.
Heavy deployment of police, Rangers and varsity’s security staff was observed on the eve of convocation.
A number of city dignitaries and educationists, along with passing out graduates and their parents, witnessed the convocation drill. However, a number of graduates, their parents and newsmen were made to stay outside the university gate and were not allowed to attend the convocation for what the varsity high ups called “their failure to report in time.”
In all, seven graduates, including two female students, were awarded gold medals for securing first position in their respective BE final examinations. Two of the graduates, Sadaqat Ullah Khan of Civil Engineering and Soobia Afroz of Computer Science and Information Technology departments were given additional gold medals instituted in the name of Dr A. T. Khan and Wakilun Nisa.
Those who received gold medals and merit certificates were: Sadaqat Ullah Khan, Fahad Aftab (Mechanical), Syed Danish Ali (Electrical), Asif Qaiyum (Computer System and Engineering), Arjumand Ali (Textile), Sarfraz Nawaz (Electronics) and Soobia Afroz (Computer Science and IT).
Those who received merit certificates only were: Farheen Mazhar and Syed Atif Ali (Civil), Muhammad Noman and Munazza Khan (Mechanical). Kiran Rashid and Adil Mushtaque (Electrical), Asif Shahab and Urooj Ain Uddin (Computer System), Humera Fatima Ansari and Syeda Ghazal Abidi(Textile), Muhammad Faisal and Sheeraz Nazeer (Electronics) and Ayaz Ul Hasan Khan and Yasir Abbas Jaffri (CS&IT).
The breakdown of candidates conferred degrees is: Bachelor of Engineering-Civil-168 (66 pre sent), Mechanical-213 (64 per cent), Electrical-137 (31 per cent), Computer Systems-76 (30 per cent), Textile-31 (24 per cent), B Architecture-78(26 per cent) and CS&IT-51 (10 per cent).
Master of Engineering or MSc- Civil-14 (8 per cent), Mechanical-21 (11 per cent), Electrical-22(6 per cent), Computer Systems-13 (2 per cent), Environmental-8(2 per cent) and Computer Science-23(13 per cent).
Mr Ibad gave away merit certificates and gold medals to meritorious students.
Mr Soomro urged the graduates to realize the value of research and focus on it, asking them to serve the community and the country with a sense of devotion to humanity.
He observed that the modern day challenges required from the students to keep themselves abreast of fast developments in their respective fields and equip themselves accordingly to compete internationally as well.
He said that to ensure economic stability in the country, it was necessary that quality education be considered as vital, while arrangements also be made to employ the graduates produced at higher seats of learning.
He said that educational institutions should be free of any kind of polarization, while the faculty should impart education with sense of honesty and dedication. He appreciated the NED University administration for holding of convocation as annual feature. He said that the regular holding of convocation reflected the dedication and commitment of the varsity, which should be emulated by other institutions as well.
In his report, the vice-chancellor of the university, Abul Kalam, said that all measures were being taken to improve the quality of education at the university and in this regard no disciplinary lapses were being allowed. The university had been fortunate that it enjoyed peace and quite throughout the year, except for one extremely unfortunate incident when clash between two groups took place, he added.
He said that university was making full use of all available resources and providing education to its students in line with the market demands. “The yearly undergraduate intake is now 1,020 against 680 seven years ago; 50 per cent overall increase with number of Engineering disciplines having been increased from four in 1996-97 to nine in 2003-2004”, included his report.
