KARACHI: Realising the fast growing levels of knowledge in various fields of engineering world, Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) has assigned top priority to research by publishing over 400 research papers produced by its faculty members and published locally and abroad till June 2011.This was stated in a presentation made to the visiting inspection team of Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) on their two-day inspection of computer engineering department of the university.
The PEC team was informed that faculty members of electronic/telecom engineering department produced 117 research papers while computer engineering department contributed 70, bio-medical engineering department 154 and civil engineering department 68 research papers published in renowned research journals and presented at various conferences.It was pointed out that the university signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft for collaborative research in emerging fields besides having collaborative research in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design; software engineering and bioinformatics.The PEC inspectors were informed that professors from North America were supervising the university research programmes.
At the outset of the presentation, the PEC team was given an overview about the university, the physical facilities, academic programme, faculty, co-curricular and research activities and achievements and said it functions under the philosophy of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the great reformer and educationist who created awareness about education in science, engineering and technology.Giving an outline of the basic concepts, it was informed that the university has been graded in ‘W’ category by the Higher Education Commission, its programmes accredited by PEC, rated as five-star university by Chartered Inspection and Evaluation Committee of Sindh government and the first university in Pakistan certified under ISO 9001-2008.
The team was informed that the number of students grew from 197 in 1998 to 1,086 in 2010 while the budget outlay soared from Rs 443 million in 2007-2008 to Rs 714 million in 2011-2012 with high priority assigned to academic activities. The PEC inspection members were briefed in detail about endowment fund, career planning and placement bureau, community services and the physical facilities.The presentation dwelt upon the university’s academic programmes, faculties, academic aspects, admission criteria, enrolment, curriculum and 402 strong faculty which comprises 21 PhDs, eight MPhils, 213 MS/MEs, 160 BS (95 percent enrolled in MS).
The team was given an overview of fee structure for BS programmes, scholarships and financial assistance. The presentation also focused on the university’s industrial interaction programme to bridge the gap between industry, employers, academia graduates and students and said it seeks support for sponsorship of final year projects, explore employment opportunities for its students.In the co-curricular sphere, the presentation informed about arts, culture, literary and sports activities. The team was particularly told that Haseem Khan is a promising player of national and SSUET hockey team while Kamran Sharif represented Pakistan hockey team in international matches.
The presenter gave an impressive overview of the university’s fascinating achievements with competitions won in 2011, which included 1st position in National Engineering Robotics Contest, Electrical & Mechanical Engineering College, NUST Rawalpindi.In 2010 the university won 1st and 3rd position in IEEE Pakistan Student Congress, 1st position in COMAT 2010, PAF-KIET, Karachi, 3rd Position Electro Fair 2010 by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Pakistan.
The team showed interest in the recent achievements for the projects like Solar Power Generating System, which won 1st position in My Karachi Exhibition 2011, 1st position in 12th All Pakistan Science Fair, 2nd position in 5th Senior design Project Competition at PAF Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology; Solar Power Electric Vehicle; Pak Energy Ramp and project ‘Boltay Haath’ which was selected amongst top 10 projects out of 200 worldwide for final rounds of the 6th International Design Competition, IEEE in USA. It was pointed out that some of the final year projects 2008-2011 were found relevant to requirements and met demand of industry and other employers. – Dailytimes
