SSUET to offer PhD programme in more engineering disciplines

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology plans to offer PhD programmes in various other disciplines besides electronic and computer engineering which are accessible to SSUET’s faculty members at present.

  

This was disclosed by the SSUET Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi, in an interview on April 1 in which he also spoke about the accomplishments of his the institution.

The university, he pointed out, is offering Bachelors of Science Degree programmes in six disciplines, civil, computer, electronic, biomedical and telecommunications engineering besides computer science. 

The Masters programme, he said, covers these six areas and in addition offers a Masters of Science degree in Mathematics also and announced that the graduating class which passed out recently at the 16th Convocation included the first batch of Masters’ degree recipients for civil engineering, biomedical engineering and mathematics. 

The Ph.D programme is offered in the disciplines of electronic engineering and computer engineering. It is only for faculty members and currently there are 15 students pursuing Ph.D studies. It is expected that some of them will complete their research work and receive Ph.D degree in the coming year. 

He recalled that first convocation of the SSUET was held on March 27, 1998 in which 197 graduates were awarded Bachelor degree in the disciplines of electronics and computer engineering while recently 1150 graduates in six disciplines received the Bachelor degrees and 32 were awarded Master degree in six disciplines. 

The SSUET VC informed that since the university was established in 1994, it has produced over 10,000 graduates in a number of disciplines ranging from civil engineering to biomedical engineering. 

Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi emphasized that the university operates on the philosophy of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan with no restrictions on admissions on the basis of caste, creed or domicile. “The admissions are provided on the basis of merit alone and for this reason, it has seen an increasing influx of talented students from all parts of Pakistan,” he asserted. 

The University, he continued, believes in providing its students with access to all necessary tools to succeed with its state of the art labs equipped with modern equipment meeting international standards in order to provide students with practical knowledge to augment the conventional classroom learning. 

“We ensure that there is a 1:1 ratio of students to computers to enable each individual access to a separate computer. The yearly budget allocates funds per department for up gradation and purchase of additional equipment. The computer engineering department currently has eight labs and a further Rs 10 million has been earmarked in this year’s budget," he revealed.

He said that the electronic engineering department was also equipped with eight labs and a budget allocation of Rs 8.6 million made for the current year. 

He remarked that the SSUET holds the honour of being the first university in Pakistan to introduce biomedical engineering as a discipline in 1996. 

"Our graduates in this specialty provide support to major hospitals across the country and ensure that the health care system in Pakistan is provided with the proper maintenance of equipment and that international standards are maintained. The biomedical engineering department currently has nine labs with latest equipment and Rs six million allocated for the current budget," he said.

"The civil engineering department was also setup in 1996 and is currently the most popular discipline with over 1750 applicants competing for a limited number of 200 seats. The department has 10 fully equipped labs and Rs 8 million allocated in the 2013 budget. The telecommunications engineering department had its second batch graduated at 16th Convocation and it has has seven labs with a budget allocation is Rs 4.4 million for the current yea," the VC stated. 

In addition, the University library has a rich collection of over 75,000 books and offers a book bank system whereby students can borrow books for an entire semester. 

"Our active career planning department assists graduating students in placements as well as arranging internships," he said.

 The Vice-Chancellor explained that the university has a policy, which ensures that capable students are not deprived of education due to weak financial position. 

"The University scheme of Scholarship and Financial Assistance helps the needy and deserving students, who have financial problems. In the fiscal year 2012-2013, Rs 40 million allocated for the university in many other areas also will always be valued. In addition to sports, the university also encourages participation in extracurricular activities through its Literary Art and Culture Forum. The forum provides an opportunity for students to take part in debates, qiraat and naat competitions," he added.

 Referring to passing out of graduating class of 2012, Prof Dr Jawed Rizvi quoted Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as having said: “National progress is the sum total of the individual’s labour, honour, honesty and sympathy. Similarly, national downfall is the cumulative result of the individual’s laziness and dishonour.”