The National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) was established by the Government of Pakistan in 1991 for the promotion of sciences and technology in the country. It is based on a multi campus concept with each college/institute/centre envisaged to grow and develop as a centre of excellence in its own field of specialisation.
The university was awarded the Charter through a Presidential Ordinance which has since been converted into an Act of the Parliament (Act No XX of 1997). NUST is privileged to have the President of Pakistan as its Patron-in-Chief, while the Prime Minister is its Chancellor. Lieutenant General (R) Syed Shujaat Hussain was the founder Rector of NUST. Lieutenant General Muhammad Asghar is the present Rector.
The university is a fully autonomous body, having the freedom to govern its academic and administrative affairs. It is matter of pride that NUST is the first public sector university of Pakistan which has won its place in the most prestigious ranking list of Top 500 World Universities published by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), UK.
OUR COLLEGES & INSTITUTES ARE AS UNDER:
-- College of Civil Engineering, Risalpur
-- College of Telecommunications, Rawalpindi
-- College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Rawalpindi
-- College of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi
-- College of Marine Engineering, Karachi
-- College of Aeronautical Engineering, Risalpur
-- National Institute of Transportation, Risalpur
-- Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Rawalpindi
-- NUST Institute of Management Sciences, Rawalpindi
-- NUST Institute of Information Technology, Rawalpindi
-- Institute of Geographical Information Systems, Islamabad
-- Centre for Cyber Technology and Spectrum Management, Islamabad
-- Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics, Rawalpindi
-- Technology Incubation Centre, Islamabad
-- NUST Consulting, Islamabad
Centre for Chemical Engineering & Material Sciences, Islamabad
-- National Centre of Virology and Immunology, Rawalpindi
-- Institute of Manufacturing Engineering, Islamabad
-- Research Centre for Modeling and Simulation, Islamabad
-- Research Institute for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Studies, Islamabad
DISCIPLINES. THE DISCIPLINES COVERED AT THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES/INSTITUTES INCLUDE:
-- Undergraduate Level. Aerospace Engineering, Avionics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrical (Telecom) Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Computer Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information and Communication Systems Engineering, MBBS (Medicine & Surgery), BDS (Dentistry), Business Management, Information Technology, Molecular Biology, Virology and Immunology.
-- Postgraduate Level. Geo-technical Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Structural Engineering, Water Resource Engineering, Electrical (Telecom) Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Information Security, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Avionics Engineering, Engineering Management, Materials & Surface Engineering, Energetic Materials Engineering, Remote Sensing & GIS, Environmental Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration.
STUDENT STRENGTH:
On an average, student strength of the University is about 6000. This is expected to increase two and half times by year 2015, inline with our revised vision. (See Table -A)
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Category Present By 2015 Students Graduated
2005 & 2006
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UG 4865 10300 1810
MS/M Phil 1022 3528 271
PhD 266* 900 03
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G. Total 6153 14728 2084
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-- 266 PhDs include 205 in foreign universities & 61 at NUST. In the years 2005 and 2006, more than two thousand students obtained graduate and postgraduate degrees from the University. The number of students pursuing PhD studies, including those in foreign universities, increased from 12 in the year 2000 to 266 as of today, while local PhD student strength has risen from a mere 03 to 61.
Presently, 205 students are pursuing PhD studies abroad - 58 under split program and the remaining 147 under full time PhD programme. In the year 2005, 03 of our students completed their PhDs locally, thus making a new beginning for NUST. One more student has completed her PhD recently while 03 more students in our colleges are likely to go for their PhD defence shortly.
FACULTY STRENGTH: NUST, as of today, has a faculty strength of 623, out of which 188 hold PhD or Fellowships in medical sciences from foreign universities of UK, USA, Australia, China, etc. This number is also going to increase many fold in future in view of the already planned raising of new institutes and centres.
INTERNATIONAL LINKAGES/SPLIT PROGRAMMES: One of the prominent features of NUST, is its strong international linkages with foreign universities of repute, which ensures high quality of teaching and research, by encouraging a two-way flow of knowledge at least cost.
This aspect also adds a global perspective to our activities. In order to save cost, avoid stagnation, and remain current on latest developments in the field of technology, NUST, over a period of time, has developed linkages for collaborative research and split programs at the postgraduate level, which over 30 universities of USA, UK, China, Australia, France, Singapore, Germany, Ukraine, Korea, South Africa, Thailand and Malaysia.
Efforts for developing linkages with some other Universities of repute in USA, UK, Canada, China and Japan are also continuing. The linkages and split programmes, are proving extremely beneficial, for the acquisition of latest technology, on regular basis, to carry out research on projects relevant to Pakistan.
NUST COLLABORATION WITH CERN: European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), is an international organisation, based in Geneva, involved in cutting edge research, in emerging technologies. NUST is collaborating with CERN, in software development activities, which will help the scientists, in the analysis of data, generated from Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. Based on its contribution already made, and the potential of NUST in R&D, particularly in the field of IT, NUST has been awarded the Associate Membership of CERN, which indeed is considered a great honour.
COLLABORATION WITH MICROSOFT /INTEL/NCR/IBM: It may be highlighted that in recognition of its ability to handle computer operations, through its highly qualified faculty, and state-of-the-art computer labs, Microsoft, the leading IT Company in the world, have awarded NUST Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), the status of their Authorised Academic Training Programme Institute (AATPI). Similarly, Intel, another giant in the IT field has donated a state of the art computer lab to NIIT, NCR, yet another multi-national IT organisation of international repute, has established their Data warehousing and Datamining lab at NIIT, so as to enable the students and the future IT professionals master this up-coming technology.
Recently, IBM has registered NUST under their new initiative on worldwide offering for higher education to selected universities. The program gives NUST faculty and researchers, access to free software, course material, educational resources, and other useful information.
ACADEMIC MECHANISM FOR GROWTH: To prevent stagnation/develop research potential within NUST, our faculty members take active part in international seminars/workshops. Similarly professional development short courses, seminars and workshops are being conducted at NUST colleges/institutes/centres as per planned programme on regular basis in line with the market needs of the local industry. For this purpose, NUST has recently established a Professional Development Centre (PDC).
ISO 9000 CERTIFICATION: NUST has the distinction of being the first education institution in the country to have achieved the internationally acclaimed ISO 9000 Quality Management System Certification. The University is also registered with the Ministry of Science & Technology as approved consultants and we are providing training and consultancy services to a number of industrial and business firms.
QUALITY ASSURANCE: For the purpose of Quality Assurance, an independent and dedicated Directorate has been established, which has undertaken the activities of quality assurance and enhancement of academic and research activities of NUST. This is done through regular academic and research audits by local and external faculty.
NUST-IDB PROJECT: The Islamic Development Bank is financing our project worth US $26 million comprising $20 M for procurement of high-tech lab equipment, and about US $6 million for development of civil works infrastructure at our colleges. This has become a milestone for developing the University into a modern centre of excellence, fully capable of dealing with emerging technologies, to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
STRENGTHENING OF LIBRARIES: The libraries at NUST campuses are well stocked with latest Technical Books, Magazines, Research Publications and Journals. IEEE, IEE, ESDU, ASCE, MEDLINE, Pro-Quest and JSTOR International Databases on CD-ROMs and DVDs have also been subscribed for our libraries. NUST is also linked with HEC's Digital Library having resource of over 23,000 peer-reviewed full-text online international academic journals and access to International Databases.
A large number of Books, Journals, CD ROMs, Software packages, duplicating machines and computer hardware etc have been provided to our colleges. Also under an arrangement with MIT's Open Course Ware (OCW) programme, NUST colleges, institutes and centres are being provided free of cost access to over 1500 courses, a mirror site is also being established to facilitate the same.
It may be high lighted here that libraries at our campuses have become active information resource centres which are being utilised till late hours every day. We aim to create an environment whereby our libraries remain in use almost 24 hours every day.
NUST has established interactive electronic classrooms and video conferencing facilities at NUST campuses as part of IDB project in our colleges, institutes and HQ NUST to facilitate sharing of knowledge and thesis defence at international level. For this, procurement has been completed, and the equipment has recently been installed. I am glad to inform you that we have already conducted several video conferencing sessions on trial basis among our constituent colleges and also between HQ NUST and foreign institutions including CERN Geneva.
UNIVERSITY COMPUTERIZATION: A Project for Enhancement of IT facilities at NUST Constituent Colleges and Institutes, with a financing of 33.74 M Rs has been completed recently. Under this, delivery, installation and commissioning of computer hardware, licensed software and RF equipment to NUST colleges along with enhancement of LAN/WAN and improved band-width, has been done.
STRENGTHENING AND UP-GRADATION OF RESEARCH CENTER FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY AT COLLEGE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES: Biotechnology is one of the newest developments related to the discovery of DNA and human genome mapping. For the Research Centre on Bio Technology, funds amounting to 36.269 Million Rs have been approved, equipment has been procured and four students have already taken up PhD level research in this area.
Sir we are also considering a proposal for establishing a facility for research in the field of virology and immunology with a possibility of necessary funding from international organizations. Additionally we have recently signed an MoU with "Aberdeen Centre For Trauma Research" for collaboration in trauma related clinical services.
ESTABLISHMENT OF R&D FACILITY IN THE FIELD OF IMAGE PROCESSING: This is yet another of the University's strengthening measure for up-gradation. This is being established at the College of Telecomm Engg at a total cost of Rs 17.853 Million for which funds have recently been approved by Ministry of Science & Technology. In this context, we are also collaborating with University of Central Florida (UCF) to assist us in setting up this laboratory.
This lab will provide a capability with wide ranging applications, such as, Real-Time Object Tracking, Air-Borne Image Analysis and Automation, Medical Diagnostics, GIS applications of Town planning, Mineral exploration etc.
Establishment of Electronic System Design Automation (ESDA) Centre is another research lab approved for Rs 25.670 Million. The Centre entails hardware and software for flexible designing and rapid prototyping of electronic systems using data acquisition, automation and instrumentation. The first year allocation of Rs 23 M has been received and equipment procurement and hiring of staff is in progress. This lab will prove to be a great asset at our Center for Cyber Technology & Spectrum Management to meet the challenges of designing new electronic systems.
Establishment of Centre of Excellence in the field of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at College of E&ME is another major strengthening project, recently approved by the Planning Commission, which will enable NUST to carry out research and development in a very important field of cutting edge technology. For this an amount of over Rs 324 million has been approved to take care of hi-tech lab equipment, civil works infrastructure and faculty development etc.
This department will enable us to carry out PhD level research and produce a number of PhDs who will not only cater for NUST requirements but will also prove an asset to other academic and research institutions of the country.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: The main thrust at NUST is on teaching and goal oriented research and development which would re-establish our leadership role in the 21 century with a renewed sense of pride. In this regard, the R&D Directorate at HQ NUST plays a major role in organising and co-coordinating the activities of various R&D Cells of the Constituent Colleges/Institutes/Centres, besides developing university-industry linkages for pursuing the cherished goals of self reliance through indigenisation.
For purposes of research, the university places heavy weightage on postgraduate programmes, which have already been up-graded to Ph.D level in almost all disciplines offered by NUST.
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY SPONSORED PROJECTS: A major project on the development of a Ground Surveillance Radar, which has variety of applications has recently been completed and we are now in the process of test, trials and refinements leading on to in-country production.
OTHER PROJECT INCLUDE:
-- Establishment of Research, Development and Support Facility in the Field of Image Processing (Rs 17.855 M)
-- Design and Development of Hydro Gravitational Power Plant (Rs 4.869 M)
-- A Polygon Based Wide Field of View Thermal Imaging System (Rs 2.800 M)
-- Development of Low Cost Indigenous Water testing Kit for various local Communities. (Rs 0.700 M)
-- Development of PC Based Weather Monitoring/Logging System (Rs 0.500 M)
HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION SPONSORED PROJECTS THESE INCLUDE:
-- Slope Stability in Galiat Area (Rs 1.948 M)
-- Correlation between antioxidant status, arterial stiffness and blood pressure in adults (Rs 1.829 M)
-- Myo-electric Prosthetic upper limb (Rs 1.68 M)
-- Indigenous development of 1 KW Wind Turbine with the aim of developing cheap source of Electrical Energy (Rs 1.45 M)
-- External flow analysis of trucks (heavy vehicles) being used in Pakistan for redesigning externally to reduce drag with the aim of achieving substantial fuel savings (Rs 1.40 M)
-- The effects of environmental pesticides residues on the health of farmers in tobacco growing areas of NWFP (Rs 1.356 M)
-- Grid Enabled applications for hand held devices (Rs 1.07 M)
-- Solar Hybrid Water Heating system for Industrial Application (Rs 4.796 M)
-- Design and Development of Super Energy Saving Lights for Urban, Rural and Industrial Applications using Super Bright LEDs (Rs 2.536 M)
-- Design and Development of an Electronically Controlled CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) (Rs 4.016 M)
-- Development of Light Weight Three Wheeler 4-Stroke Slim Car/Rickshaw (Prototype) Utilising Composite Material (Rs 4.872 M)
-- Indigenous Development of CNG Car Kit (Rs 3.509 M)
-- MIL-STD-1553 FPGA Based Remote Terminal / Bus Controller / Bus Monitor (Rs 2.9718)
PAK - US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION PROJECTS. THESE INCLUDE:
-- Interactive Grid Analysis Environment (IGAE)
-- Cost Estimates:
-- Pak side: Rs 4,823,000.00
-- US side: $100,000.00
-- Measurement and Analysis for the Global Grid and Internet End to End Performance (MAGGIE)
-- Cost Estimates:
-- Pak side: Rs 3,100,000.00
-- US side: $99,600.00
-- Development of Guidelines for Asphalt Pavement Recycling in Pakistan
-- Cost Estimates:
-- Pak side: $500,000.00
-- US side: $350,000.00
-- Improving the Lifestyle of Villagers in Remote Areas of Federal Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan Using Renewable Energy
-- Cost Estimates:
-- Pak side: $100,000.00
-- US side: $40,000.00
-- Industrial Linkages. Universities traditionally are the breeding ground for most R&D work. In the developed world, this highly important resource is being very effectively utilised through close interaction between universities and industries. Again, NUST has taken the lead and considerable progress has been made in this context by establishing industrial linkages and signing MoUs with leading R&D institutions, & organizations of the country. In order to further strengthen these linkage in an institutionalised manner, NUST has established a full-fledged commercial arm in the form of NUST Consulting (NC) and a Technology Incubation Centre (TIC).
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SHORT COURSES, CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS:
For academic growth and updating of knowledge, it is essential that our faculty and research scholars interact with other scholars, scientists and technologists who are physically involved with various scientific and engineering activities in the world market.
THE LIST OF SIGNIFICANT SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS CONDUCTED DURING THE LAST TWO YEARS ARE AS UNDER:
PAPER PRESENTATIONS: Similarly, in order to keep pace with modern technologies and validate own research findings, our faculty members are encouraged to actively participate and present their research papers at various international conferences, seminars and workshops in USA, UK, Canada, Japan, China etc. The yearly data of papers presented for the last 05 years is shown here.
As far as paper presentation is concerned, in years 2005 & 2006, NUST students and faculty presented over 332 papers in different national and international conferences, out of which 81 papers have so far been published in journals of repute. It may be highlighted here that the time lag between conference presentation and paper publication is over six months; therefore, some more publications to our credit are expected in the coming months.
ESTABLISHMENT OF NUST NEW CAMPUS AT ISLAMABAD: In order to meet the growing requirement of higher education in the field of science and technology in the country, a new, modern and technology smart campus of NUST is being established at Islamabad. For this purpose, the Government of Pakistan has allocated complete sector H-12, covering an area of 706 Acres, in Islamabad to NUST where, besides the University Headquarters, new high tech Postgraduate Institutes are being established.
THE GOVERNMENT OF PAKISTAN HAS ALREADY APPROVED FOLLOWING PROJECTS AS SHOWN FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN SECTOR H-12, ISLAMABAD UNDER A PHASED PROGRAMME SPREAD OVER 7 YEARS:
-- Relocation of Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE)
-- Relocation of National Institute of Transportation (NIT)
-- Center for Chemical Engineering & Materials Science (CCE&MS)
-- Institute of Manufacturing Engineering (IME)
-- Institute of Applied Electronics and Computing (IAEC)
-- Institute of Telecommunications
-- Research institute for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Studies (RIMMS)
-- Research Center for Modeling & Simulation (RCMS)
-- Institute of Geographical Information Systems (IGIS) including Remote Sensing and Satellite Imagery
-- NUST Institute of Information Technology (NIIT)
-- NUST Institute of Management Sciences y (NI MS)
-- Center for Cyber Technology & Spectrum Management (CCT&SM)
-- Technology Incubation Center (TIC).
The new campus of NUST is being developed as a Technology Smart Campus by exploiting modern facilities available to provide top-of-the-line IT services to all inhabitants ie, the students, researchers, faculty members and general public. Under the project, IT facilities as under will be established:
(a) Campus wide optical fiber ring for connecting all academic, admin & residential blocks / buildings
(b) Provision of gigabit wired & wireless LAN
(c) High-speed internet connectivity
(d) Technology smart classrooms, lecture halls and offices
(e) Video lecturing and conferencing facilities
(f) Educational FM Radio & TV station and
(g) University's own ISP facility
Conclusion. NUST's flexible approach to Hi-Tech education and R&D is an essential element of its educational philosophy. The University as one of Pakistan's fastest growing institutions of higher education is energised by a vision that will distinguish it among its peers. NUST strives to become a symbol of pride and honour for the nation.