NED University Affairs
By Dr. Aamir A. Farooqui
Mountain View, CA
I am writing this email with reference to my earlier email on the same topic. This time I hope the seriousness of the problems faced by NED would be fully realized and necessary action for their rectification would be taken.
NED accepts the best undergraduate students with outstanding academic qualifications, yet after four years of education they receive at the University these students find themselves struggling in making a career. The graduating students realize that their engineering degree has no value or recognition - neither in the industry to help them secure good jobs nor in the academic institutions world over to continue higher education.
Education:
I recently interviewed around 25 students of NED who recently graduated in Electronics and Computer Engineering with over 80% marks. They included position holders. However, I am sorry to say that none were able to answer basic questions on:
- State machines,
- Mealy Moore machines,
- Assembly language or
- C language.
On my query they informed that they were not taught these topics in their studies. This is a serious issue: these topics form the basics of Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Engineering.
I do not know how the university is allowed to give degrees without teaching these basic concepts. Following is the excerpt from PEC's website: http://www.pec.org.pk/roles-resp.asp
“Functions of The Council
The main functions of the Pakistan Engineering Council are given below:
Promotion of engineering education and review of courses of studies in consultation with the universities.”
Following was revealed to me by an NED teacher, “The courses followed at NED are very old. Grey heads are conducting 30-year-old lectures. One teacher admitted in front of me that the assignment he is giving to me to solve was prepared in 1979. There is no check on the teacher on what he teaches. Most of the teachers are not following the latest trends.”
I would like to know who is responsible for creating/updating the syllabus in NED? When was the syllabus last updated? How many experts were involved in that process outside NED?
Research and Development:
The university does not believe in research and publications. I remember someone from the university administration mention that publications are not important for a university of NED's caliber. YES, certificate/diploma granting institutions do not require publications, BUT a university’s ratings are judged on the basis of publications.
My proposal, which was rejected by the respected VC, was presented to Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) administration and they wholeheartedly accepted it without any modifications. In his letter to the HEC dated January 29th, 2008 the respected VC not only bluntly refused the proposal, but used inappropriate language for anyone who comes his way. This letter on behalf of a VC of a degree-granting university is clearly inappropriate.
My proposal was not only the first proposal rejected by the university administration. Earlier, a CISCO proposal was also rejected. It was again accepted by SSUET. Therefore, it is the university’s routine to discourage the infusion of high technology in the university.
In early March this year, Assistant Professor Kashif Habib of Dr. Usmani's Department got an acceptance letter from the organizers of the International Symposium on Collaborative Technologies & Systems for his research paper in the area of Wireless Networking. Being the principal researcher, he was invited to Los Vegas, USA to present his paper in a symposium scheduled to be held from May 14-17, 2006. His case was strongly recommended by Chairman Dr. Usmani despite verbal advice from some higher ups not to do so. Mr. Kashif then obtained financial support from HEC for travel and stay to present the paper in the Conference. During the months of March and April, the Registrar of NED University, after getting approval from the VC and obtaining permission from the Chancellor/Governor's Secretariat, issued the NOC for travel abroad. Kashif was also provided the funds from the director finance obtained from HEC.
But on the advice from some higher up in connivance with the Vice Chancellor, the Registrar was directed to issue a nasty letter on 11th May, just one day before the departure to USA of Assistant Professor Kashif, DIG Police and FIA Karachi Airport to stop Mr. Kashif from boarding the plane. Kashif was told that his permission to present the paper had been withdrawn and he had to report back to the University immediately. Poor Kashif who could not attend the Conference, felt disgusted, resigned and left the University.
PhD degrees without a single publication
When the university cannot conduct proper undergraduate studies and there is no research of any standing, how could it offer PhD degrees? The VC accepts that three PhDs from the university are working in the university. This shows the standard of NED and its PhD(s). In the US, normally universities do not hire their own PhD graduates due to several reasons, which, the respected VC is not aware of.
On further inquires it was revealed to me that NED is offering a PhD degree without a single publication. The doctoral program of the university has no value as there are no qualified professors who are involved in active research. Even MS students are forced to work under professors who have not published a single research paper in their life.
A PhD scholar requires at least few publications. I know at least one example of a CIS PhD scholar who was cleared in the exam without any publication. I do not know how the professors analyzed her work; perhaps they did not even know what she was doing in her research work!
Qualified Teachers
The number of good teachers is decreasing day by day as the VC does not like qualified teachers who raise their voices in front of him. The gray head masters of NED have created an atmosphere in which no foreign qualified faculty is willing to join the university. If they try, they get so much opposition from the bureaucracy that they often choose not to come.
NED Website
During the VC’s tenure, the university is unable to improve its image even through its website.
ISO Certification
Why the tax payers money was spent on ISO certification? How many universities in the world have ISO certification. This is an educational institution, not a shipyard workshop which requires ISO certification. A high level inquiry is needed to find out how much money was spent and who were the people who benefited from this useless exercise.
Construction Contracts
There are some University employees who have construction companies registered in the University and they often get construction projects on the campus. They approve their own company proposal. I hope the authorities will probe into this matter as well.
VC Qualification
- How can a VC of the university be without a PhD degree, when a PhD is required for the post of an Assistant Professor? This immediately disqualifies the VC for his job.
- Is there a dearth of young talent in Pakistan that an 80+ years old person is the VC when the retiring age is 60 years? There is something seriously wrong and it should be corrected immediately.
- The Vice Chancellor only follows the recommendation of a few employees of the university who stay around him all the time. Who are these people that make all the decisions without consulting the heads of the concerned departments?
- The Vice Chancellor, who himself has crossed 82, prefers to appoint retired persons in the University, the most recent being the appointment of Dean of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Dean, soon after his retirement from the University service, was hired on contract for one year and again appointed Dean. This is a gross violation of the University Act,that requires that appointment be made from among the three most senior professors in the faculty. The tenure of a Dean is three years. The Humanities & Social Sciences Department also had a contract appointee Chairman, despite availability of Associate Professors in the Department. His contract expired last month and he is no longer coming to the University. Yet no body has been appointed Chairman, and there is not even an office order, empowering the respective Dean to look after the department. The post of Pro-Vice Chancellor was occupied by a retired Professor of Math Department who was not from any engineering discipline, a pre-requisite for such a post. The same person has been re appointed for two more years.
- Since the last five years, the NED University is controlled by retired persons and a group of Professors not involved in active research for the last so many years. Their old research has not been published in any reputed research journals. Most of them have initiated no new research but have been only recycling their old research papers. It is this group that is responsible for taking NED University from the top position to the 10th position among 13 engineering universities and institutes as reported by a recent HEC Survey.
I believe the respected VC is responsible for the decline in NED's standards. Due to his mismanagement of the University’s affairs NED students are refused admission by universities of USA. I would like to know how many NED alumni were admitted to Stanford, Berkeley, or MIT. in the past three years. I can give you the answer: the number is zero. Anyone who applies from NED immediately gets rejected even with high GRE or TOEFL scores due to the University’s reputation.
Based on these facts, I request Governor Sindh to take immediate action and save the university.
I request the HEC to immediately stop NED's funding, and hold a high level inquiry to investigate into all these matters.
I also request PEC to play its role as mentioned below.
http://www.pec.org.pk/roles-resp.asp
“Withdrawal of Recognition
The Council has been assigned the power to withdraw recognition of a qualification in case it is proved that the qualification does not impart knowledge and skill requisite for the efficient practice of engineering.”
