Comments on: Building an ‘MIT for Pakistan’? A Conversation with Dr. Asad Abidi (Part 1 of 2)

By: Sameer

Sameer — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:45:05 +0000

Hello

What is the job prospect of a SSE graduate?And is studying engineering really difficult?

By: Jahanzaib

Jahanzaib — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:35:29 +0000

Hi MY,
That is a very difficult question if you ask anyone else. Ask these questions yourself and you will have the answers. What attracts you? Is your passion serving others directly by helping the ailing or by giving the world which will comfort the general public?
Priority, while choosing the right career path, should be given to personal desires. MBBS is thought to be a very good option in Pakistan but i left it for B.Sc in LUMS because i thought it was the right career for me. Both the choices, MBBS and SSE are the best in their respective fields (pardon me for taking SSE as a career choice) so any suggestion might not be helpful at all. It’s your decision to make. And i suggest that you rely on your personal preferences rather than asking others.
Have a nice professional career :)

By: MY

MY — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:08:25 +0000

Hi,

Please advice SSE lums is good or MBBS? and why?

Thanks
MY

By: Fahim Khanzada

Fahim Khanzada — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:02:35 +0000

I concur Naeem in saying that discipline lacks in civilian officers as compared to Army. However, why is it that we quote the word ‘Army’ and not ‘honesty’ or ‘diligent management’ whilst discussing discipline. Tackling corruption and upkeep of transparency are the topmost challenges faced in any organization whether army, academia, bureaucracy etc.

Mentioning the controversial terms like ‘army’, ‘politicians’ etc mostly, in our society, leads to heated discussions which further divert the main course of discussion. So it’s better to avoid repeating the practices far from objectives of STEP. The object is to create awareness by imparting quality education and it demands both excellence and sincere devotion.

Any project ranging from controlling traffic to managing barracks demands the upkeep of discipline as a prerequisite to successful completion. An honest administrative is inculcated with qualities of integrity, punctuality and egalitarianism etc, be him an Army Commander, a professor or a banker.

Thank you.

By: Naeem

Naeem — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:03:49 +0000

Dear All
This is an interesting discussion and i couldn’t resist commenting.

There is always a lot of army bashing in all fields whenever ex-army men are appointed. I agree its not their business…the problem is there are virtually no civilian disciplinarians. I don’t know whether any of you have had the honour of being at IBA when Dr. Wahab was there, but he ruled IBA like a general. & that is why he was able to make this great institution. he used to visit student toilets and would fire janitorial staff on the spot if found dirty. The class discipline is much matter than even army platoons. If one is 2 seconds late in class after the instructor…one is marked absent, even if one is present…that’s the kind of draconian laws we need in our educational institutions instead of typical ‘CHALKO KHAIR HEY’ approach.

regards

By: Majid

Majid — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:39:51 +0000

Because engineering cannot survive or should say develop without sciene and technology based manufacturing. We do not have any Science and technology base manufacturing. The best thing our private organizations can make is Urea.

By: Editors

Editors — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:32:12 +0000

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you! We always welcome constructive criticism and will take your excellent suggestion under advisement.

STEP is a volunteer-run enterprise, so please roll up your sleeves and join us! We welcome people with good ideas in our team.

Best,
The Editors

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:26:17 +0000

May I request the hnurable editors of this forum that kindly improve the outlook , Q’s & A’s are simple merged , no distinction ,put question wih bold and big size , right side is wasted without any use. Its a wonderful blog and people would enjoy more if you plz. improve readability and colur scheme.No offence at all
Best Regards

By: Obaid

Obaid — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:18:20 +0000

Good point Umair. I think this because a lack of sustainability. What will someone with an engineering degree do? Is quality research being conducted to attract those who want to go down the research/higher education track? What about those who want to innovate? It is sad to see that very few software companies in Pakistan build their own products – they are content to work on a project to project basis which leads to zero professional and intellectual growth.

More importantly there is very little professional growth in software (for eg)… a software engineer is lucky to get paid Rs30K as a starting salary. In 5-8 years time he will be very luck if to Rs60-80K

By: Affan Syed

Affan Syed — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:27:09 +0000

Hassan,
while I agree with your diagnosis, I am not sure that the solution is practical for exactly the reasons that you point out i.e. status quo’s inertia (for a good reason, on their part!). Inviting Dr. Abidi is a real-world attempt at implementing this solution, that too in an institution that has nothing to do with generals or army that we all too easily blame for all problems. Just to clarify, I am totally against generals being assigned administrative posts, its just that several interlinked primal causes can manifest as a single problem. And so removing just one cause does not solve the problem and might, paradoxically, be detrimental.

Without going into the detail about my opinion of these several underlying problems, I would like to point out that in addition to having a sincere and well wishing administration, we need to inculcate young faculty that identifies his/her fortune with the institution at hand. Such a faculty not only wants, but needs, its university to progress so that their standing among peers, along with their university also goes up. Only then can the faculty (which are the lifeblood of any thriving educational institute) rise above the petty issues that are hinted to by Dr. Abidi above. Thus to me a greater focus on the need of attracting the best new talent is essential for the long term survival of educational institutions in Pakistan.
(again, this is one part of the puzzle where several others exist many of which I, with my severely limited insight, may not even know of as yet).