SSUET - on the glorious road

An interview with Engineer Z. A. Nizami Chancellor Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology
Business Recorder: What is the role of HEC?
Z. A. Nizami: The idea of this commission is to co-ordinate the activities of all the education institutions, to give assistance to them, to provide foreign scholarships and various other responsibilities. Unfortunately due to the lack of funds and resources these activities are not up to the mark.
As far as SSUET is concerned, it is among the top universities of Pakistan in the private sector. We do not want any funds from HEC, we just seek their blessings. SSUET is one of the few institutions which do not seek and financial assistance from the Commission instead we want the facilities which HEC provides.
SSUET has bought 200 acres of land in the Education City, where we are establishing a campus of the university and IT center. SSUET strongly believes in quality instead of quantity due to this ideology we have only introduced those disciplines which are needed eg. Computer engineering, Civil engineering, Telecommunication engineering, Electronic engineering, Bio-medical engineering.
There was a demand of introducing other engineering programs, due to it for the first time in Pakistan we carried out a study to determine and identify the employment oriented disciplines which tells us the in-demand disciplines and helps us design our courses and programs and we are the only university conducting these studies.
BR: Who will be the rating agency if the HEC gets devolved?
Z. A. Nizami: Ratings are not important; all the universities are established under an act of the Parliament. SSUET operate according to it. Even if HEC is devolved, some other body will be established to look after the problems, affairs and activities of the Universities. As far as assistance in concerned, SSUET has collaborations with 12 foreign universities from all over the world.
BR: Are the students of SSUET recognised internationally?
Z. A. Nizami: SSUET designed its programs and courses with the help of 80 international engineering universities from all over the world. According to the latest information 910 graduates of SSUET are working in United States.
BR: Does SSUET conduct its own research?
Z. A. Nizami: We do, in fact we encourage our students and faculty members to take part in research oriented activities and we provide them with special stipends in doing so.
BR: Does the SSUET have formal linkages with the industries at large?
Z. A. Nizami: Yes, SSUET is one of the few engineering universities which has great linkage with the industrial sector and we have a very powerful carrier planning and placement bureau. We maintain a list of our graduates along with a list of employers and whenever there are vacancies we forward our list of graduates to that organisation. Faculty and staff need development in knowledge and skills for the improvement of quality, effectiveness and access of higher education. Character building of the students should be focused and the linkage between university and industry should be established
We also co-ordinate and take help where ever necessary with the President of the Chamber of Commerce & Industry who is a member of the Board of Governors of SSUET.
BR: Does the university offer career counselling?
Z. A. Nizami: We strongly believe and make sure that our graduates are up to the mark in the subject they are studying. We carry out official courses for our students teaching them how to appear in the interviews and how to convince and influence employers.
BR: Does SSUET have any policy for scholarship the under-privileged?
Z. A. Nizami: Yes we do have policies for the under-privileged. We provide scholarships to the very deserving students to carry out their education. This university has been established in the pattern of Aligarh Muslim University, India, where no student is allowed to depart from receiving education due to financial constraints
BR: What are the plans of SSUET to discourage politics within the campus?
Z. A. Nizami: SSUET has a very strict policy to make sure that no political activities are carried out within the campus and we take severe actions if it is violated. Compared to various other Universities the position of SSUET in terms of political influence is much better.