curriculum, inspecting universities for quality assurance, and accrediting programmes.
He said though the number of parents forcing career choices onto their children was fast declining with changing times, there were still many who followed the parents’ ‘orders’ for career paths, an act that ruined the likely promising future of youths.
“In many failure cases I have seen at my university, pushy parents are to blame. They forced children into careers they didn’t want and thus, spoiling the future of youths, who could otherwise shine in the careers of their choice. In this light, I urge people to let children pursue career paths they want for successful professional life while limiting their role to guidance only,” he said.
Professor Arshad said he found no government sincere about promotion of education in real terms.
“Education has never been on the government’s priority list. Absence of uniform education system at school and college level is enough to prove it. There exist different education systems for different societal classes, which should be done away with at once to provide members of lower and middle classes with growth opportunities, which are currently available to those of upper class only. This will eventually contribute to national development,” he said.
The educationist said the Islamabad campus of his university established 18 years ago had become one of the country’s most vibrant, effective, and rewarding seat of higher learning in a relatively short span of time.
“We’ve progressed from a single undergraduate degree programme to multiple undergraduate and graduate programmes. At present, we are offering Ph.D in two disciplines, which are Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering. We are also planning to start PhD in other disciplines like Management Sciences.
“The commitment of the faculty, hard work of the students, and the support and guidance of the management has helped the campus reach this enviable stature. Our graduates have earned a respectable place in both national and international arena. The feedback we have been receiving about the performance of our graduates from the industry bears testimony to it,” he said.