KARACHI, Sept 15: Due to prolonged suspension of academic activities at Petroman educational institutes, it is likely that a good number of students will quit them soon to join other private institutions in the city, said sources on the campuses.

"The impact of long administrative apathy and continued strikes by Petroman employees have compelled us to pursue the rest of our studies at private institutions, which will surely charge much higher than what government institutions charge," said a couple of students who had already approached the University of Karachi for transfer formalities.

Employees of the Petroman institutes of all three campuses in the city went on strike 35 days earlier and had refused to work further in protest against non-payment of salaries to them for three months.

At that time they had mentioned that the government was not giving any grant to Petroman, and its staff was being paid only basic salaries from February 2004, without any allowance; and that too was stopped in their case in May 2004.

Petroman institutions all over the country were originally administered and financed by the Ministry of Industries and Production. They were later transferred to the Ministry of Information Technology. "We have learnt that now the Higher Education Commission is taking over the control of Petroman institutes," said an employee on Wednesday.

It was further learnt that some portion of the outstanding salaries had been paid to employees and efforts were being made to ascertain status of the institutions. The government has also moved on the issue and a grant was likely to be ensured for the institutes.

In the meantime, the affiliation committee of the University of Karachi recently held a meeting of the principals of affiliated colleges and institutes, including those of Petroman after being approached by Petroman students of Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Business Administration programmes for NOCs regarding a change of institutions.

Through a notification, KU informed the students of BCS and BBA of the Petroman institutes of computer science and technology at North Nazimabad and Gulshan-i-Iqbal campuses that due to closure of their institutes they could join any of the 16 private institutes affiliated with KU on transfer basis, provided that seats were available with them.

Before going to other institutions, Petroman students were required to obtain NOCs from their concerned campuses and submit an application along with the receipt of payment of thelast admission fee to the deputy registrar academic of KU.

It was learnt that the university's affiliation section had received 300 applications for transfer a number of students meeting varsity requirements would be cleared within a couple of days.

Normally, students seeking transfer had to submit letters of discharge and acceptance from their old and new institutions respectively, to the university, following which the university orders changes in the enrolment records of the said students.

However, in the case of Petroman students, KU would be issuing letters without demanding the names of the private institutions where students were likely to take admissions, said a varsity official.

The BCS and BBA programmes of Petroman, North Nazimabad campuses were affiliated with the university in 2002 and 2003 respectively, while those of Gulshan-e-Iqbal campus were affiliated lately.

The first batch of over 300 students of the North Nazimabad campus was due to appear in its final examination in December this year, informed a student, adding that students literally had lost about one and a half months of their academic activities.

The tussle between the government and Petroman employees had, however, created a room for business for the private institutions, which were already functioning below capacity.

There is a likelihood that private institutions would not charge old Petroman students fees of the semester they had already paid to Petroman, but what about the remaining semesters, asked a student, apprehending they would be charged exorbitantly.

The general manager of Petroman in Karachi was not available for comments, but a source in the institution said that the GM was trying to convince the agitating staff to resume academic activities in the better interest of students and education.