City’s best in engineering education in a mess nobody’s cleaning up

Authorities seem least bothered about NED University’s financial crunch, other crises

Karachi: Once considered an embodiment of excellence in its field, the NED University of Engineering and Technology no longer seems to be a priority for those at the helm of its affairs, including its chancellor, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, who was, on Thursday morning, absent from yet another of the varsity's convocation.

The governor, seen later in the day as the chief guest of a ceremony organised at the Karachi Press Club to launch provincial information adviser Maula Bux Chandio's book, was supposed to preside over the 24th NED convocation at its main campus, where 1,976 gra duating students were starting a new chapter in their lives.

According to an assistant professor at the varsity, the last convocation Governor Ebad attended was in 2009

 “He [Ebad] did not make it last year too. In fact, I can’t even recall the last time he attended the university’s convocation,” an NED official requesting anonymity told The News.

“It’s not only about his [Ebad’s] absence in convocations, it’s actually about his and other high-ups’ lack of interest in the NED and that has worsened its affairs,” he added.

The official said it was heart-wrenching to see one of the best public universities being neglected by its chancellor and pro-chancellor, provincial education minister Nisar Khuhro.

“The university’s financial crunch, mismanagement and lack of accountability put the future of so many students at risk.”

The official said students were direct victims of whatever was going on in the university. “The NED doesn’t feature in the Higher Education Commission’s ranking because of certain reasons, however its shining students and their reputation in the market are its real pride,” he added.

“The persisting crises have caused a serious shortage of facilities. Not even basic ones required to create a modern atmosphere of learning for students are available.”

Discussing the crisis, the official said the university’s departments had even run out of printers and stationery.

“How can you expect teachers to be at their best when there aren’t even papers available to them to print tests for their students?”

Financial crunch

The HEC’s contribution for every NED student is around Rs97,000 while the expenses incurred on each student come to about Rs137,000.

“This year, the HEC provided around Rs1.003 billion to the NED, but the expenditures now are considerably higher as well because of the increase in salaries and the inflation rate,” the official said.

There are over 9,000 students studying in the university in Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and 84 PhD students.

“The university has been compelled to increase the fee structure,” the official said. “In just three years, the fee has been doubled.”

In 2013, undergraduate students were supposed to pay around Rs14,000 each year. The amount has reached Rs29,000 now.

Responding to The News queries, NED University vice chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Afzal Haque said he had assumed charge of his office in March 2013. At that time, he added, the annual deficit had crossed over Rs1400 million and the university had taken loans from commercial banks.

“The liabilities have been reduced to Rs622 million during my three-year tenure and all loans have been paid back with despite the high interest rate.”

Haque, who is serving the last year of his tenure, said a number of short courses had been introduced to generate more funds and new departments were set up to overcome the crisis.

“The numbers of seats in high-significance departments including electrical and mechanical engineering have been increased. Besides, more categories of self-financed seats have been introduced too.”

HEC ranking

A teacher in NED, who has returned to the country after finishing his doctorate abroad, said the authorities had increased seats in the electrical and mechanical departments and the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) during its visit to the university had found that around 80 students were in a single class in some departments.

“As per the PEC rules, up to 40 students are allowed in one class but the university is not hiring the faculty required to meet the ranking standards,” he said.

“We must hire more faculties and urge our professors to come with research papers and engage their students in research-based projects.”

A senior professor argued that the university did not give incentives on publishing research papers and teachers were compelled to spend 18 hours in classes in a week against 12 hours as per international standards.

“If a teacher isn’t given any incentive and proper time, how would they come up with any research?”

The professor said the university had 2,000 employees and only 442 were in teaching faculty.

 “Over staffing of non-faculty is a genuine problem, but the bigger one is the mismanagement of funds and the corrupt practices of some officials and professors who have been working as a lobby.”

‘Toothless’ VC

An official who sits at the NED’s white house, the administrative unit of its top officials, believes that the current vice chancellor was not “empowered” to make “major decisions”.

“We all know that he [the vice chancellor] is honest and sincere and has managed to deal with the financial crisis to some extent, but we also know that he cannot make major decisions and launch an accountability process across the board.”

The official said the vice chancellor had now started enrolling students in doctorate programmes from other varsities. Previously, only NED students were offered the programme.

“The irony is that not many professors in the university are known for producing original research papers, and the students in doctorate programmes aren’t learning much from them.”

Loan on provident fund

An NED professor, who is about to retire, told The News that Engineer Abul Kalam, former vice chancellor of the university, was very outspoken in nature, but when he had taken a stand against higher authorities over the latter’s policies, the university was not provided with its due share of funds.

“He [Kalam] was a brave man, but it’s also true that loans were taken from commercial banks and even the provident fund was mortgaged for it,” he maintained.

He added that empowering the vice chancellor alone could not bring about a change, but the chancellor and other authorities would have to step in to pull the university out of its crisis.

Ebad’s last visit

An assistant professor recalled that the chancellor of the university was last seen at the 17th convocation of the NED held in 2009.

“Education minister Nisar Khuhro, the pro-chancellor, presided over the last two convocations, but it was merely a guest entry.”

The professor said the office of the Sindh Audit director general had presented a report on the irregularities in the appointments and promotions of faculty and other employees of the university. However, he added, no steps had been taken on the report so far.