By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
The Orientation Day of the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET), Karachi, for the new entrants (Batch 2017) was held at the Karachi Expo Centre on January 18 in a glorified manner with Chancellor Jawaid Anwar exhorting the students to strive to raise their level of thinking along with their academic pursuits so as to achieve success in their practical life and help raise the heads of their parents, teachers as well as the university.
The programme was attended by over 1,400 new entrants who got admission in 11 different engineering disciplines alongwith their parents and were educated about their respective fields by the concerned Chairmen of departments.
In a highly motivational address, the SSUET Chancellor told the students that they are going to start a new phase of their life. The university which they selected for their academic career is a unique and ideological institution which enjoys a creditable and elated position in the field of education but also has a distinctive position when it comes to modern approach, research and career building.
He informed that this year the 200th birth anniversary of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the great Muslim reformer and educationist is going to be observed. In order to celebrate this occasion in a most befitting manner, Sir Syed University has started preparing programs which would include international seminar besides lectures by noted scholars whereby the mission and struggle of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan will be highlighted.
He pointed out that education played a cardinal and effective role in the transformation of human life and it would merely be a wishful thinking of achieving a bright future without education.
The Chancellor said that Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was a man with farsightedness who was fully aware that only a creative approach of a nation alongwith use of modern technologies will serve as its best asset and this thinking became the starting point of Sir Syed's educational movement.
He said it was his this mission which led to the creation of Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association (AMUOBA) which made the establishment of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology possible where students are introduced to modern engineering education besides carrying out graduation and Masters programmes.
In SSUET, he told them, their 4 year academic phase will be an era of their future building and, therefore, they will have to dedicate themselves towards acquisition of knowledge by utilizing their all possible positive capabilities.
Pointing out that their bright future would be dependent on education, the university teachers and teaching staff would be ready to guide them at every stage.
Jawaid Anwar said that for a university, the teachers serve as the backbone and SSUET has instituted extra ordinary steps for their progress and prosperity with the confidence that its reflection would be visible in the academic pursuits of students and their future buildings.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Jawaid H. Rizvi congratulated the students for getting admission in SSUET strictly on merit basis and hoped that they would work hard with devotion, dedication and sincerely to achieve their goals and come up to the expectations of their parents and university.
He said they are admitted to a university which carries the name of a great reformer and educationist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan whose contribution and efforts in the face of adverse circumstances led to the awakening of the Muslims of South Asia which led to the creation of a separate homeland for them.
He informed that different from their earlier educational system in school and college, they will here follow a semester system whereby an academic year is divided into two semesters and a summer session with a final exam at the end of each.
The Dean of Faculty of Engineering Dr Prof S.M. Makhdoomi also welcomed the students on behalf of the faculty while chairmen of departments of Civil, Bio-Medical, Electronic, Computer/Software, Electrical, Telecommunication engineering, Architecture, Computer Science/Bio-Informatic/IT departments gave an introduction of their respective departments.
Prof. Dr Najeeb, Associate Dean Engineering gave an introduction about CEP and CISCO while Chancellor's Advisor Siraj Khilji dilated upon the Students Guidance Center and Career Planning. Speeches were also delivered by two passed out students.
The programme concluded with the SSUET Anthem and closing remarks by Registrar Comdr (Rtd) Syed Sarfraz Ali who at the outset gave an introduction about the AMUOBA, Sports, Library, Arts and Culture Forum, Students Guidance Centre and Co-Curricular activities.
