MULTAN, Feb 7: The Bahauddin Zakaria University’s constituent engineering and technology college will soon be accredited by the Pakistan Engineering Council.

Established in 1994, the college is yet to be recognized by the PEC due to several reasons including intra-faculty politics and alleged biased attitude of the engineering council.

The college graduates often fail to find suitable jobs both in the private and public sectors for not having the tag of affiliation with the PEC.

In 1975, the Punjab government decided to establish four engineering colleges in the province, one each in Taxila, Multan, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur. Interestingly, the college in Taxila initially started functioning in Sahiwal immediately after the decision to set up the colleges. However, the college was later shifted to the historical city of Taxila in 1978. Recently, its status has been raised to an independent university of engineering and technology.

In 1983, the then president of Pakistan announced that a college of engineering and technology would be established in Multan. The Punjab governor constituted a committee to finalize recommendations for setting up the college as a constituent of the BZU. Finally, the Executive Committee of the National Engineering Council approved the proposal of the college in September, 1990.

Despite administrative and financial odds, the civil engineering classes started in 1994 and electrical engineering classes in 1997. The college currently envisages to provide training facilities to 600 students with an annual intake of 150 internees. However, the classes of mechanical engineering are yet to be started.

A 70-acre tract at the BZU was allocated for the construction of the engineering college premises. Building of the civil engineering department was completed in 1998 while the electrical engineering department came into being in 2000.

During all these years, the engineering college could not be accredited with the PEC due to certain objections raised by the council.

The first batch of the BZU graduated in 1998 in civil engineering while the fourth batch of civil engineers and first batch of electrical engineers are roaming jobless. Employers want PEC recognition, claimed a frustrated engineer, adding ‘we have lost our time and resources of our parents’.

In May, 2001, the PEC accreditation team visited the BZU engineering college and pointed out following prerequisites to the accreditation.

(a) Establishment of faculty of engineering and appointment of a dean of the faculty of engineering and technology.

(b) Appointment of senior professors and associate professors.

(c) Appointment of trained and qualified staff for laboratories.

(d) Establishment of certain non-existent laboratories and procurement of necessary laboratory equipment.

The PEC committee gave a period of six months to fulfil the conditions. The university management took up the task to accomplish the conditions. They had to brave difficulties especially in hiring services of senior faculty members in the face of alleged opposition from some senior teachers already engaged with the college faculty.

When contacted, BZU vice-chancellor Prof Dr Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry told this correspondent that a separate faculty of engineering and technology had been established besides the appointment of senior as well as junior faculty members both in civil and electrical engineering departments.

He said most of the laboratories had been equipped with necessary tools while tenders for the remaining laboratories had been called. The appointment of qualified staff for the existing laboratories had already been made, he said.

‘We have fulfilled maximum short-term measures and most of the long-term measures prescribed by the PEC’, the VC said, adding there was no reason the PEC deny accreditation to the college.

The PEC accreditation team is scheduled to visit the BZU engineering college on Feb 9 to examine the fulfilment of these conditions.