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TechNet Club launched for IT professionals
MICROSOFT Corporation Pakistan launched the TechNet Club at the MSDN and TechNet Conference held recently at Karachi.
With 3,667 members at the launch, the club provides IT community the opportunity to interact with Microsoft high-level events, through newsgroups and online communities and online training in Pakistan.
At the Executive Circle & Technet/MSDN Conference on Sept 8 in Karachi, Microsoft Middle East Technical Manager Ihab Foudeh, South Gulf Product Marketing Manager Maha Bustami, and Product Manager Haider Salloum gave detailed presentations demonstrating business value and informing the participants about new Microsoft technology. The focus of the presentations was on “Do More with Less”.
In his keynote address, Mr Foudeh underlined the need for reducing the costs and improving return on investment (ROI) through adopting a three-pronged strategy: (1) reducing number of machines, (2) standardize on a reduced number operation systems, and (3) making system administrators more procductive.
He said, “Microsoft spends around six billion dollars on research, and it has 2000 engineers. They are all at the disposal of
Ms Maha Bustami suggested enhancing operational efficiency through unifying environment, consolidating infrastructure and simplifying management. She said, “Business houses should now think about reducing the administration by easing development and deployment.”
Mr Salloum held an interesting interactive exercise with the participants.
HEC to review exam system
The Higher Education Commission has decided to review various modes of examinations being practised in the public sector universities.
At an HEC meeting held in Islamabad on Monday, its chairman, Professor Attaur Rahman, said there was a dire need to look at the entire examination system in higher education institutions.
“We have different types of examination systems and there is need to form a committee for a certain period of time to examine the existing examination systems and suggest new proposals to improve it further.”
The recommendations of the committee need to be circulated among the vice-chancellors before their implementation, the HEC chief said.
Proper coverage of the subject should be the main issue, he said, adding that there should be pressure on students as well as teachers to cover the entire contents of the curriculum.
Rote-learning is encouraged at university level and so when the students face problems in their practical life, the HEC chairman pointed out while addressing the participants of the meeting.
“Therefore, the examination system should be formulated in such a manner which encourages critical thinking,” Prof Rahman said.
The question papers should be internationally compatible and the system should be such that the university itself should find out difficulties in its system and identify possible solutions, he suggested.
‘IT syllabi obsolete’
Only 2 per cent of the 16,000 IT graduates qualifying in the country every year get proper employment because of the obsolete education syllabi being taught in the universities.
This was stated by information technology industry expert and Mentor Graphics president Greg K Hinckely and Accelerated Technology Director Syed Hussain Gilani last Sunday while speaking at a press conference.
They were on a six-day visit to Pakistan for exploring the possibilities of investment in IT industry and introduction of teaching of latest information technology studies in the leading universities.
Plans for solar energy project
The Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration decided to launch a project to provide cheap electric power to Alipur Farash, a small village on the outskirts of the capital.
The AEDB chairman, Air Marshal Shahid Hamid (retired), and deputy commissioner Tariq Khan, in an exclusive meeting, decided to give the idea of solar energy a try and turn Alipur Farash in to a model village thriving on electricity produced through solar energy.
A team comprising officials of the AEDB and ICT administration will visit the village on Wednesday to make an on- ground assessment.
The AEDB, set up by the prime minister to find alternate means to produce energy for meeting the future needs of the country, has been facing the traditional teething problems as it is still striving to cross the first hurdle of winning the much needed recognition.
The AEDB chairman said the situation provided an excellent opportunity to put the idea of using solar power to a practical test. “We can turn the whole village into ‘solar village’.
First online MS thesis
After a couple of live video- conferencing lectures, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Karachi, is now organizing its first ever online thesis defence.
The online thesis defence will be held between Karachi and Islamabad on the topic of “XML Gateway for Heterogeneous Database Management System,” between MS student Aslam Pervez Memon, and adviser Muhammad Nadeem.
It was transmitted to Islamabad campus via live video. Such interactive activity will benefit the students of any institute to submit their thesis without having to travel from one city to another. — Dawn ScienceDotcom Report
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