* The following email was posted to all students of seecs, faculty of NBS , faculty of SEECS ,rector, Pro-rector and respective DGs of most NUST schools. We got some encouraging promises , some criticisms and some calls for anger management.Its highly unlikely anything fruitful will come out , unless we all make our voice heard
Respected Sir,
Respected Sir,
On 6th of November a new era began in our lives. A momentous occasion in our lives, it was our convocation. It was to be the beginning of something special , something divine . But perhaps that something special never came to fruition. It was a wonderful opportunity to come around and meet each other after a duration of about four months. While we were happy to meet each other , something wasn’t right. The atmosphere looked gloomy. We were sitting together and waiting to get our degrees from a prestigious Pakistani university, yet we strangely felt betrayed. We felt betrayed because when we imagined our counterparts in other parts of the world who went to their countries’ leading universities, we could not imagine them being jobless(for everyone who wants to see what joblessness means). The predicament that we were in was hard to comprehend. How many people in this world graduate from top schools and remain unemployed? Sadly for us we are one of those unlucky people.
Whatever our destiny has decided for us we are willing to accept. But we donot only hold destiny accountable for all of this. We strongly believe they are a lot of issues in this university which need to be addressed for the potential survival of future graduates. We do know that the economy is stagnant and there is a lot of saturation in the Electrical/Electronics field. This however has not stopped universities such as IST and CASE from helping their graduates getting hired. This suggests surely there is more work that can be done to market our graduates.
Suggestions:
Please make a career development department with COMPETENT people who place CV’s of all graduates into the HR departments of leading companies. This department must have contact numbers,addresses of most companies in Pakistan . This career department should also have a up to date website with vacancies in various fields being shown so that alumni can check out if a job is available that suits them. The department must have contacts with the HR departments of various companies so that a vacancy could immediately be notified. Some might say that this is already being done. Please note the present performance of the career development office is farcical and they are in almost no contact with the alumni
The second thing that is required for a graduate in these testing times is a versatile skill set . This can only be achieved when courses are allowed to be picked and dropped at will across various disciplines . The reason why this is not being applied is not comprehensible by us , but it is the need of the hour and if we fail to allow this the future graduates will suffer a worse fate than us.
The third thing which we strongly believe needs to be done is to improve the quality of projects we do in our campuses. We believe that our graduates lack the finishing touch where our peers in leading universities around the world do possess. We very arrogantly talk about Stanford, Caltech but we fail to emulate their study models over here. If we visit the website of MIT open courseware , we can see that almost all engineering subjects have a forty percent weightage for projects and a similar weightage for LABS . Exams meanwhile have a very small weightage. This suggests that only through practical work can we really gain knowledge with a finishing touch . Theoretical Knowledge is like reading a story which you are never really part of. We must also focus on cross disciplinary projects because in all sincerity any practical project has to be cross disciplinary in nature. A robot without software is useless, and you certainly can’t expect electrical engineers to create software for you.
Fourthly, the industry cares less about what we learn in the university and emphasizes more on hands on experience on equipment by specific hardware manufacturers example Allan Bradley, Siemens, Nokia, Motorola, Ericsson and Huawei. Please hold constant practical workshops of these companies because in the end workshops like these do help one to gain practical experience.
As far as research is concerned, we strongly believe there is limited research being done that can really change Pakistan. In fact, in many cases we do not need research but we only need design and analysis to solve Pakistan’s problems. Unless we help our society to reach the top we surely can’t expect this university to change anything. We expect faculty members to lead projects that can potentially change Pakistan. Just to mention over here , Dr Rehan Hafiz recently floated a project in which electricity is being produced by the kinetic movement of cars which can be used to light up traffic signals. Such innovative projects when properly assigned to a cross disciplinary team lead by a faculty member will give rise to the much touted “entrepreneurship” term . Such a project perhaps does not require cutting edge research as this technology is readily available , but what it requires is a will and vision , which perhaps we lack. Research for the sake of attracting dollars is useless to Pakistan as a whole. The need of research shall arise when we reach a problem for which a solution already does not exist. In our case , all the solutions do exist. Unless we change our priorities, we really can never become great and we really can never become a knowledge based economy. The other plus side is that this will create more jobs for our graduates and more revenue for the university.
The other day an ambitious prospective Nustian came to us and asked enthusiastically about Nust . We could not help but guide him for the better and we thought maybe Nust is not the best option right now . This perhaps is the beginning of a trend , a trend that can sadly see Nust lose its charm and glory unless it acts to change things.
The other day an ambitious prospective Nustian came to us and asked enthusiastically about Nust . We could not help but guide him for the better and we thought maybe Nust is not the best option right now . This perhaps is the beginning of a trend , a trend that can sadly see Nust lose its charm and glory unless it acts to change things.
In all this we aim to help our university improve and help the future graduates more easily tackle the job market. We hope to hear from your side soon to further discuss the suggestions.
keep it up :)
ReplyDeleteAnd another thing,These issued should be addressed on priority.
ReplyDeleteI remember,when my uncle(Canadian professor) had meeting with rector Asghar and he reminded him of a blunder in our system that if a students gets F in pre-requisite subject he/she gets relegated.
It is now roughly 1 year,my uncle had meeting with him and he assured he will do things in this regards,But we cannt see any changes.
So,what I suggest is that the NUST admin changes its priorities,first to address student issues,then to concentrate on introducing new displines etc
Really liked it...Hopefully the admin will take some action.
ReplyDeleteAll the action which I anticipate the admin will take is to impose some sort of fine on you for defaming the premier institute of the country. :-D
ReplyDeleteDuring my stay at SEECS I was never serious about the MS/ higher studies even Dr. JQ tried to lure me with the incentive which come with the (good) journal publication. But after seeing the environment ( http://sse.lums.edu.pk ) around me now I have a soft corner in my heart for the MS/ higher education.
Fahad ...Hum ne suggestions providee kee hain .....mock nahee kiya .....If they pay heed it is for their own benefit.
ReplyDeletebtw mein hamesha se kehta raha hoon ....ke LUMS is the ony place with a vision. glad to know you are enjoying.
cheers
... The Above Letter really highlights all the important factors that have a direct impact on students of SEECS-NUST
ReplyDelete........ [ I appreciate the initiative taken by our seniors :) ]
IT kee job market kaaafee behtar hai ...so dont worry too much ...its for bee and bicse to worry .
ReplyDeletebtw pay our regards to Sir Ramzan.
Can it be that IST and CASE students were not banking too much on their degrees and were actually learning things in their university (which ensured their hiring) while NUST students were deluded by the the supposed grandeur of their university :)
ReplyDeleteFrankly, if you have the necessary skills companies want, no one cares where you studied from.
May be the problem is not the university ONLY.
Firstly , lets see where do these people from IST and CASE get hired .
ReplyDeleteIST people go mostly to suparco .Case people go to CARE . There is strong affiliation between the 2 comapnies and universities.
Secondly , there are limited jobs in Electical/electronics engineering. you need to know that. NUST has a name and it has a significant number of alumni and contacts. What it needs a marketing technique to get in contact with them and influence them. This is how loyalty works. Harvard , stanford all have a great alumni culture.
Thirdly , being a nustian in itself means you were hardworking ( for now) .
I can assure you we are at least on par if not better in terms of skills . You can take any uni you want.
Finally ...when 8 graudates get hired out of a batch of 80 ....that means there is a PROBLEM ....and the UNI is a significant part of that.
Alright.
ReplyDeleteWhat other factors are there? What can the students do to improve their skills?
Were the students who wrote these posts responsible students? Would you change anything (about yourself) if you could go back to university :)
@ Mr Anonymous: If you can question our skills and highlight our inability to adjust ourselves according to job requirements, you can do so without hiding your identity. It's not like you'll be fined here for putting up such comments (as it happens in NUST-SEECS).
ReplyDeleteI am very disappointed by the comparison of NUST students with those who go to IST and CASE and classifying as those students to be “actually learning something in their university” while saying at the same time that NUST students aren’t learning anything. Well then explain their graduation. Do you mean to say that NUST’s academic system sucks this much that they let the students who “aren’t learning much” just grab a degree and go out in the real world? Because if that’s the case, then again, the blame goes to NUST, not the students!
Coming back to the discussion; NUST says that it's the best university in Pakistan, and if you think the best university produces the worst graduates, then you yourself admit that NUST is living a lie!
The whole point is that NUST students are failing at many fronts. Firstly, the whole curriculum designed for the Engineering degrees (at least in SEECS) makes no sense even to the students who are studying it. Then the experiments that are performed on the students by testing new teachers in their core courses of the degree are a nuisance in itself. Just recently, the BICSE5A students had to face this issue where a fresh PhD teacher was chosen to teach them the most important course of their degree "Advance Communication Systems". The guy had practically no idea what to teach and how to teach it. And therefore he was really bad at teaching it. And to top it off, the second section of same BICSE5 was being taught by a teacher who actually knows what and how to teach and is one of the best here at NUST-SEECS. It took almost 7 weeks for the students of the victim section to convince the administration of their great loss that they were facing. But the damage was done already and hence even though now both sections are taught by that best teacher at SEECS, one section is still lagging behind since they were not taught properly in the start and hence lack the basics. So whose fault is it? Students or Admin?!
Coming to your point of what students need to do to improve their skills; well students do whatever they feel right for themselves but of course they need some mentoring and sense of direction for which the Faculty and Admin is there. But what our Admin is doing is imposing each and everything in a drastic manner hoping that it would result in "best graduates in Pakistan" when in fact it's doing the exact opposite. The skills that need to be developed are over-looked and students are forced to learn the skills that are actually not needed by the current market.
ReplyDeleteWhy these students spoke up? I firmly believe that had they been not deprived of the skills that actually are required in today's job market, there wouldn't be no UNEMPLOYED NUST GRADUATES. Who doesn't want a job after surviving a 4-year hell at the place we call NUST? And why would any student not do his/her best to get a job? After all, it's their life they would be doing something for, and not anything that would benefit NUST. So anyone who thinks that NUST students don't do anything about their future or they should change something about themselves needs to realize that these students won't be doing anything for NUST if they get a job. They have their own lives to live and have to earn their living through jobs. And if they don't get a job, it's they themselves who suffer, not NUST or any other entity. And I for one think that no student is dumb enough to not put in his/her best knowing that at the end of the day, all they are doing would result in their own better future. And hence, I daresay that had all things been good at university's part, 80+% students wouldn't be sitting at their home doing nothing.
No one in the Admin and Faculty listens to students’ concerns or give a damn about their problems and issues. All they want is to use the students for their own benefits (major one being using students’ work to achieve their own research goals and when it’s all done, throwing the students away or brain-washing them to go for MS/PhD even if they don’t want it for themselves). And once they have achieved their goals and the poor student gets through the 4-year hell, they leave him/her on his/her own to go out and face the harsh world with an attitude that says: “Don’t you dare look back at us for help, haven’t you learn your lesson already???”.
In short, I think NUST as a whole has the Admin that sucks big time although I do admit that NUST Faculty is one of the best in Pakistani universities with the exception of a few.
Its heartening to know that they are people like Usama who can think freely and analyze situations so precisely.
ReplyDeleteAs it can be seen that these problems are there in NUST and we spoke for a lot of people when we wrote this email. Obviously this email has no effect on us as we have already witnessed firsthand difficulties.
However we hope and pray that our juniors donot face the same harsh circumstances that we did.
Its always good to change . Its always nice to admit a mistake and change yourself. We strongly believe that is what is required by NUST if it ever thinks of remaining a top level university.
You say that no one in admin and faculty gives a damn. Is that really true? not one?
ReplyDeleteYou were to meet DG SEECS to discuss your problems, any outputs?
@ Mr. Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteFaculty cares about the well-being of the students but they can't do anything because at the end of the day, authority rests with the Admin. And yes I daresay that Admin does not care about students in the slightest. They have their own agenda they feel is right to follow and whatever the students or even the faculty says falls on deaf ears.
Yes I did meet DG SEECS and the meeting lasted for 3-4 minutes in which DG SEECS scolded me for being so outspoken and called me a dumb fool who can't follow rules. While it maybe true on other occasions, in that particular case, he was the only person who thought of me that way and everyone else I know supported me. Even the alumni spoke in my favor.
At the end, our respected DG SEECS checked how many mails I have sent on the students' list and fined me for Rs. 1000/- per e-mail and ordered me to pay the fine within the week or else I won't be allowed to sit in the classes. I then had to pay the fine developing an utmost hatred for the NUST Admin as a whole. After that, some student emailed this issue to Rector but as it always happens, Rector supported DG SEECS and the student was further fined for going to the Rector. So if that qualifies as an acceptable OUTPUT, then I see NUST going to continue the Army dictatorship culture rather than manifesting itself as a civilian university.
Itna lamba interview liya ja raha hai ....that too by an anonymous person...I do expect ke ye seecs kee magazine mein publish ho .....;)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I could not meet the DG and I emailed him the reasons. Perhaps you can ask him personally.
If you read Usama's post you can witness the sheer frustration present within various students. Perhaps it will be a nice idea to open up a public forum and invite people to discuss issues of the uni.
The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the President. You realize that you control your own destiny.
ReplyDelete-- Albert Ellis
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
ReplyDelete~Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss should care a little
ReplyDelete(if not an awful lot) about improving himself too :)
Indeed , Dr.seuss "SHOULD" care a little about improving himself :)
ReplyDeleteGreat, we have a consensus.
ReplyDeleteEvery one improves himself and we all improve :)
Hey , if albert ellis does it , we all will. ;)
ReplyDeleteNUST *must* change itself if it wants to be at the top otherwise it will be turned to DUST by other innovative schools
ReplyDelete*Reposting since the first comment was immediately deleted.
ReplyDeletefrom Dr. Arshad Ali
to Usman Zafar
Dear Usman,
It is Monday 29 Nov 2010 evening and the time of our meeting to deliberate the unemployment issue highlighted in your was scheduled at 10 am on 25 Nov 2010. Not even a single graduate came see me as yet to discuss any of the problem highlighted in your mail. This clearly shows that either the problem highlighted in your mail didn't exist or any one of you is not interested in Job.
I am sure you had taken a long time to gather your thoughts and write a detailed email to express your emotions and provide suggestions on ways to help SEECS NUST alumni find jobs. I have gone through your web blog which is full of negativism about Pakistan and the life. May I suggest that in order to succeed in life positive thinking is extremely important. To succeeed you must beleive that it is people who make the difference but that is only possible by self responsibility. I would like to invite you to join SEECS NUST to address the issues highlighted in your mail. So now you have a job. It is always important to become part of the solution than complaining without understanding the whole picture.
I have been and will always be willing to find ways to help our students. My offer is open to all alumni to come and discuss ways to improve seecs NUST environment and the future of our students. However, please keep in mind that time is important in life and the meeting schedules should be adhered to. Moreover, be positive and beleive in ourself. Pl feel free to contact whenever I could be of any help.
Wishing you best of luck.
Best regards
Someone was trying to post a comment through a proxy perhaps , so it was being deleted by the blog. So here it is.
ReplyDeletefrom Dr. Arshad Ali
to Usman Zafar
Dear Usman,
It is Monday 29 Nov 2010 evening and the time of our meeting to deliberate the unemployment issue highlighted in your was scheduled at 10 am on 25 Nov 2010. Not even a single graduate came see me as yet to discuss any of the problem highlighted in your mail. This clearly shows that either the problem highlighted in your mail didn't exist or any one of you is not interested in Job.
I am sure you had taken a long time to gather your thoughts and write a detailed email to express your emotions and provide suggestions on ways to help SEECS NUST alumni find jobs. I have gone through your web blog which is full of negativism about Pakistan and the life. May I suggest that in order to succeed in life positive thinking is extremely important. To succeeed you must beleive that it is people who make the difference but that is only possible by self responsibility. I would like to invite you to join SEECS NUST to address the issues highlighted in your mail. So now you have a job. It is always important to become part of the solution than complaining without understanding the whole picture.
I have been and will always be willing to find ways to help our students. My offer is open to all alumni to come and discuss ways to improve seecs NUST environment and the future of our students. However, please keep in mind that time is important in life and the meeting schedules should be adhered to. Moreover, be positive and beleive in ourself. Pl feel free to contact whenever I could be of any help.
Wishing you best of luck.
Best regards
and here is my reply ......
ReplyDeleteDear Sir ,
I emailed you that very same day and have forwarded you the email which I wrote . I am sure you can realize that the reasons mentioned are very strong and thus I could not come . I donot know why it didnt reach you , perhaps this email account lacks the privileges to email to everyone. Let us not jump to conclusions so swiftly about a person. My blog details the many problems we Paksitanis face. I am a non-conformist and I believe to bring change problems must be highlighted , be that at a school level or national level . You can see my loyalty towards seecs by the fact I emailed Kamran haider to work for free in an advisory role to help shape the career development . I , being a loyalist, thought it is the need of the hour for NUST to improve , otherwise improvement will never come. I could have forgotten everything like every other alumni and could have gone ahead with my life . But I did not do that , because I believe in change. The problems highlighted in the email are not for us and neither did I write the email for ourselves . The problems and solutions provided are for the "future graduates" . Let us help each other by making sure these problems get solved and that this institution retains the prestige it currently enjoys.
Yours Sincerely
Usman Zafar
P.S the following email is the email I replied you with . Please see the date and time. Thank you.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Usman Zafar
Date: Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 9:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Students] Something for NUST to ponder upon.....
To: "Dr. Arshad Ali"
Cc: rector@nust.edu.pk, faculty_nbs@nbs.edu.pk, students@nbs.edu.pk, students@seecs.edu.pk, faculty@seecs.edu.pk, pro-rector@nust.edu.pk, prorectoranr@nust.edu.pk
Dear Sir ,
Thanks for your reply . Sir it is impossible for me to come on Thursday as I reside in Saudia. I just wanted to make some recommendations and play my part in providing feedback to the university I spent so much time in . I have written the email for the better of NUST and InshaAllah I hope to see these changes one day in NUST. I shall tell my friends in Pakistan about your offer so that they can benefit form it.
Thank you again .
Best Regards
Usman Zafar
From the email of DG SEECS:
ReplyDelete"To succeeed you must beleive that it is people who make the difference but that is only possible by self responsibility. I would like to invite you to join SEECS NUST to address the issues highlighted in your mail. So now you have a job. It is always important to become part of the solution than complaining without understanding the whole picture."
Surely at least one of the six listed authors of this post could have met DG SEECS to help solve the problems you've highlighted.
At the cost of repetition, "it is always important to become part of the solution than complaining without understanding the whole picture"
And such is the aura of fear and intimidation prevalent ...that no one dare speaks ......
ReplyDeleteIf it had been any other uni , an email would not have been such a big deal ...
Perhaps we must ease the atmosphere....
information about the CONVICTED ABSCONDER from the POLICE regarding ATIF MEHMOOD KHAN and ASIM MEHMOOD KHAN.. WANTED FELONS being sought by ISLAMABAD POLICE F / 8 Police station Margalla. They are WANTED on PPC 334A, 337, 354 Along with CORRUPTION, BRIBRY, PLANNING ASSAULT, DEMEANING a WOMAN, INTIMIDATION, THREATING POLICE, THREATING to MURDER INNOCENT CHILDREN and a number of other charges. ATIF WORKS as a LECTURER as NUST!!! ASIM WORKS as a DRILLER at OGDC!!!
ReplyDeleteSunday, 24 April 2011Update 322-854-0582 phone number
PHONE NUMBER OF CRIMINAL ATIF MEHMOOD KHAN
+92-322-854-0582
ISLAMABAD POLICE NEEDS YOUR HELP
in locating the
WANTED CRIMINAL & ABSCONDERS
ATIF MEHMOOD KHAN