Career counselling: Questions and answers

Q1: My education is MPhil Geography. Now I want to do PhD in GIS Remote Sensing. I want to change my field from Geography to GIS Remote Sensing. I want to change this field because there is no job opportunity and scope of geography in Pakistan except education sector. Please suggest me about the subject changing and about my future career.  (Raees Mehmood, Lahore).

Ans: Geographic Information System (GIS) is a highly emerging area and Remote Sensing is another very upcoming sub-specialism within the geographical domain. I would also advise you to look Geospatial Technologies along with Remote Sensing and Cartography when looking at your PhD options. This will enhance your opportunities when you complete your PhD and you will have better scope in either teaching or research giving you a holistic approach of the whole subject. I’m sure you will be able to follow my advice.

Q2: I am an A-level student and will complete my A-Levels in 2018. My subjects are Physics, Chemistry and Maths. My GPA is 3.25 this year and I am planning to apply for Aeronautical Engineering from Risalpur. I just want to know the scope of Aeronautical Engineering in Pakistan and if it is good for me to go for it or not. (Sabeeh Zahid, Karachi).

Ans: Aeronautical Engineering is a very recognised and important engineering discipline and very rightly Risalpur is the centre for Aeronautical Engineering and I hope that you are able to get in the college and complete your degree with distinction. There is huge scope in Aeronautical Engineering and some of its emerging sub specialism that you can also Google as Drone Engineering, and Advance Robotics that is used in Aeronautical, Automobile and other assembly lines which would further increase your scope of your work and opportunities.

Q3: My daughter has done O-Levels and now she’s interested in doing A-Levels. I want to know would there be any deduction in marks after A-Levels for MBBS or Engineering? And what is the equivalence formula and how is it used? Syed Anis-ur-Rehman

Ans: O-Level and A-Levels are individually assessed by the IBCC Islamabad a specific conversion formula is applied to British qualifications such as GCSE O and A-Levels and the American Diploma whichever the case may be. The Board regularly keeps on updating and revising these formulas and the equivalence of marks obtained by the students of GCSE O and A-Levels. I would suggest that you visit their website: www.ibcc.edu.pk/equivalence.php which clearly explains the calculation/ deduction of marks by the board and the formula to equate the equivalency for admission to medical universities or engineering universities.

Q4: I have done FSc Pre-Engineering and I want to do BS Computer Science but my parents say there is no scope in this field and I may face problems in doing BS Computer Science as I never studied this. I want to know which field I should choose as I only want to study Computers Science. Please guide me which subject I should choose whether Computer Science or Computer Engineering and also advise which of these has more scope. Furthermore, let me know which university is better for me FAST or Comsats? I want to go abroad for study. God bless you (M.Umaid Hassan, Khanewal)

Ans: As long as you are competent and good in Maths and Physics, you should have no problem in completing or progressing through a Bachelors of Computing Science degree. BSCS deals with the development aspect of computing and it all depends on your interest whether to do Science or Engineering. The Bachelor of Computer Engineering deals with the hardware side of computers. The development area is very progressive and there is no reason why you should not be successful in doing Bachelors of Computing Science following which you could also opt sub specialism towards your masters. FAST and COMSATS both are good universities for Computer Science and I wish you all the good luck in your future career.

(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is a recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).