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KARACHI INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
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A valuable additionin the IT education
By AMANULLAH BASHAR
Dec 03 - 09, 2001
Syed Mazhar Ali having a country-wide reputation
for giving quality projects in the field of construction industry has
maintained the legacy in the field of education also. The credit for
establishing Karachi Institute of Information Technology (KIIT) — a
valuable addition to the IT education in Pakistan established on sound
foundations goes to Syed Mazhar Ali, who has sacrificed his all
comforts, time and money to make KIIT a prestigious source of
education on the world IT map.
Established in 1998, KIIT is now going to assume
the role of a world class IT university to be named as "Jama Al-Asr"
for which a charter is likely to be granted shortly by the government
of Sindh.
Having a picturesque surrounding, Jama Al-Asr,
presently KIIT, is located at "Gulshan-e-Maymar", an island
of peace within the city of Karachi which is now known for its
polluted environment, due to traffic noise, smoke emitting vehicles
and law and order hazards. When grown to its full bloom, days are not
far away when Pakistanis could mention the name of this world class
university to compete with any foreign university.
Affiliation
To ensure that the KIIT curriculum was in step with
the latest advancements in the field of IT and also that it was in
accordance with the requirements of the industry at global level, KIIT
entered into an agreement with the School of Computing and
Mathematics, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom, to offer B.
Sc. (Hon.) Program, KIIT entered into another agreement with the
University of Huddersfield to offer a one year M.Sc/ Postgraduate
Diploma in Software Development. As a part of the agreement, the
courseware developed by the University of Huddersfield for these
programs were made available to the KIIT. Also the University of
Huddersfield provided consulting services to the KIIT in the selection
of hardware and software, setting up local area network and the
selection of faculty members. To make sure that the level of education
being provided at KIIT is at the same level as that of the University
of Huddersfield, it helps the KIIT in developing Quality Assurance
Procedures.
Syed Mazhar Ali while talking to PAGE said
to see Pakistan as a leader on the world IT map and to serve to soil
of this country has always been his obsession. Nature is kind to
Pakistan and has gifted plenty of resources in different forms but we
failed to make best use of these resources. Referring to the expertise
Pakistan has gained in the field of Information Technology, he said
that this facility is not being implemented to bring e-government and
automation in the public sector organizations. He said that automation
could reduce the nuisance of manual handling in public dealing
organizations like KDA, LDA or CDA. However the application of
automation would hit the vested interests and that is the reason the
corrupt are not willing to facilitate the people. Citing the example,
he said, that approval of different requirement from development
authorities or building control authorities take more than two years
which on one hand hampers the economic growth of urban areas and on
the other hand forces people to go for illegal options. He said that
there is tremendous scope for employment of existing and forthcoming
IT graduates if the government allows speedy automation of the public
sector organizations.
When asked about the difference between KIIT and
other IT institutes, he said one of the glaring example is our
emphasis on research to keep our faculty abreast with the latest
global changes taking place in the IT sector. We at KIIT spending
heavily on research work and on acquiring quality IT experts from
foreign universities, so that the graduates we produce could meet the
market requirements. He said that some of our graduates have become
head of the organizations and playing leading role in the IT sector.
That is the difference between KIIT and other IT institutions. We
don't compromise on the quality of education irrespective to the cost
we have to pay for that. He said that he has spent his life time
earnings and sacrificed his living style just for the love of this
land. He also appreciated the sincerity of some Pakistani IT experts
abroad who have joined KIIT team to express their love for this
country. He said some IT experts from Iran have also expressed their
desire to join KIIT faculty in near future.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that KIIT aims to produce IT
trained professionals who will contribute towards the national image
building and the nation's prosperity. He expressed the hope that KIIT
will act as a beacon for professional education for others to follow.
Factors behind establishing kiit
The need for setting up a centre for quality
education was felt in the backdrop of the demand and supply of IT
graduates in Pakistan. The past studies in Pakistan showed that
against the need of some 3000 IT graduates per year only 900 graduates
were being produced from the existing institutions during 1998. In
addition to 900 IT graduates, from the State and Private institutions,
through one year Diploma programs and Vendor Certification institutes
e.g., Microsoft, Novell, Oracle etc. about 2000 IT professionals were
also being produced in Pakistan. Despite the fact that supply position
of IT graduates from IT institutes has improved considerably during
last three years yet the demand has increased at a much faster pace.
The current local demand of IT graduates is estimated to be around
8000 annually while annul output is about 5000 only. Due to this gap
in demand and supply of the IT professionals, country was in need of
more education centers to meet the deficit. The arrival of KIIT is
certainly a significant move to fill in the gap.
IT policy
From 1997 to 2000, despite the formation of IT
Commission, because lack of commitment of the government not much
development took place in the promotion of IT in the country. However,
with the appointment of Professor Dr. Attaur Rehman in October 1999,
as the Minister of Information Technology/ Telecommunication and
Science, required steps for promotion of IT were taken expeditiously
and also a large sum of money was allocated for the development of IT
in Pakistan.
In April 2000, the IT Commission of Pakistan was
assigned the prestigious job of preparation of an IT Policy of
Pakistan. The blueprint of IT policy of Pakistan was completed in June
2000 and from July 2000 the government started taking the required
steps for promotion of IT in the country. The most important decision
of the government was that the government should be a facilitator and
concentrate on the provision of infrastructure. The main vehicle of
growth shall be the private sector. And in this regard, a number of
incentives were provided to the IT sector including the IT institutes
in the private sector. Due to these measures, in the coming years, the
software industry in Pakistan is going to be extremely busy in
undertaking massive e-government projects. Due to this policy along
with the creation of additional jobs for the IT industry the
government itself will require large number of IT graduates for the
maintenance and running of the e-governance systems. Despite the large
number of IT institutes, which have sprouted in the last three years
that demand for quality IT education that continues to grow, says Mazhar.
He regretted that vitally needed automation in the
public sector organizations was moving at snail's pace which indicates
the lack of interest in the lethargic crop of the bureaucrats in
Pakistan.
The main problem of the institutions owned by the
State is their very low level of funding and the rigid fee structures.
For instance, in some universities the tuition fee is only about 5
pounds per year. Due to the inadequate resources at the disposal of
the State institutions, the quality of their faculty has rapidly gone
down, the availability of technical books and journals is minimal and
their hardware and software is antiquated. Under these circumstances
it is not surprising that most of their curricula have remained
unchanged for the last 8 to 10 years.
In addition as a result of the increase in the
requirement of trained computer science graduates, a growing number of
dubious private institutions have sprung up which claim to have links
with foreign universities. These institutions, some of which are even
called Universities, are located in residential houses, which are
unsuitable for education environment. Because of the desire of the
students to acquire foreign degrees, these institutions, with false
promises and deceit, were able to attract a large number of students.
However, the facilities provided by them including the caliber of the
faculty, availability of suitable computer Labs and library facilities
etc are not up to the required standards. The caliber of graduates
from these institutions is therefore so poor that it does not come up
to the requirement of the industry. Consequently, a large number of
these institutions are no longer considered suitable for providing
quality IT education. Hence the students are getting wiser and trying
to avoid these institutions and instead select the IT institutions
which providing quality IT education. In view of the problems of the
state institutions and the low caliber of IT institutions being set up
in the private sector, there is therefore an urgent demand of quality
IT institutes in the private sector with links to establish foreign IT
institutes.
Competition
At the time of inception of KIIT in 1998 there were
only 8 universities/institutes providing IT undergraduate programs in
Karachi. Whereas due to growing popularity of IT education the number
of IT institutes providing undergraduates and graduate IT programs has
exploded to about 33 such institutes. Many of these have links with
some dubious, so called foreign universities, whereas despite having
links with British universities many other such institutes are
deceiving the students by admitting them with O levels into the three
year degree programs instead of the prescribed A levels which is in
contravention of the normal UK university admission requirements.
In the face of these conditions, due to the quality
of its faculty, the IT infrastructure, internet and library resources
and above all state-of-the-art curriculum and the strict quality
assurance procedures, in a short span of three years KIIT has gained
the reputation of a quality IT institute in the country.
Syed Mazhar Ali said that currently, KIIT has the
strongest faculty with 8 Ph.Ds. in computer science and 8 more doctors
are due to join shortly to give a unique status to this forthcoming
university in Pakistan.
Through holding regular seminars on current IT
topics and inviting industry leaders and government functionaries the
elite of the country whose opinion counts, have come to know about the
quality education being provided at KIIT. In addition, KIIT is also
providing IT awareness courses to the high government officials of the
province of Sindh.
A number of private sector universities in the
province have signed memorandum of understanding with KIIT to help
them in the curricula and faculty development, refresher courses,
system and networking development. Due to the high quality of
education being imparted at KIIT and also the outstanding facilities
along with the exposure of the decision-makers of the province to the
merits of KIIT, despite the increasing competition, the number of KIIT
students are increasing.
Faculty
Syed Mazhar Ali said that KIIT believes in
continuous grooming of faculty. In this regard KIIT offers excellent
opportunity of research and development to its faculty. Due to an
active and interactive environment at KIIT the faculty at KIIT has
been very actively involved in national and international seminars,
workshops and conferences. There is a long list of consulting and
development projects that are being carried out by the faculty
successfully. Also the students under the supervision of faculty are
carrying out a number of industrial software development projects.
Syed Mazhar Ali, with a sense of pride to have what
he called the strongest faculty with 8 doctors in the relevant
disciplines has introduced IBA fame Dr.Abdul Wahab to give a
prestigious look to the KIIT team of educationists. Other faculty
members include Dr.Kazi A. Kadir, Dr. Zubair A. Shaikh, Dr. Wasim A.
Khan, Dr. Imdad Ali Ismaili, Dr. Abdul Ahad Siddiqi, Dr. Shakeel A.
Khoja, Dr. Misbah Uddin Mirza, Dr. Nasir Touheed and a strong team of
senior educationists.
Dr. Abdul Wahab, former Director of IBA and Vice
Chancellor of University of Karachi, who has also joined KIIT said
that future of KIIT is bright because it is the commitment, leadership
and direction which results hitting the targets.
Paying tributes to the efforts of Syed Mazhar Ali
as the Chairman KIIT for the promotion of IT education in Pakistan,
Dr. Abdul Wahab said that Syed Mazhar Ali enjoys the reputation of
getting things done and he has the confidence that the Jama Al-Asr
which is in its formative stage would be one of the leading university
not only in Pakistan but on the map of the world education.
When asked how does he feel at KIIT having enjoyed
the reigns of the huge empire of Institute of Business Administration
(IBA) as its Director, Dr. Wahab said with a sense of confidence that
KIIT is different from other educational institutes in terms of
physical facilities and standard and quality of its faculty.
He said that expansion of a small institute into a
well-reputed education centre by itself is a challenge and he has
taken the present assignment as a challenge.
Giving the background of the selection of title of
Jama Al-Asr for the University, Dr. Abdul Wahab said that about 3
months ago a meeting of the senior educationists, citizens and other
opinion leaders was invited to suggest the name of the forthcoming
university. The meeting was proceeded with the recitation of Soorah
"Al-Asr" from the Holy Quran. On pointation of Mr. Hamid
Ahmed, Executive Director of KIIT, the participants unanimously agreed
to take Al-Asr as the name of the University. He made it clear that it
was not inspired from Jama Al-Azhar of Cairo.
SYED MAZHAR ALI
Syed Mazhar Ali, Chairman KIIT, carries various
distinctions to his credit.
Having his graduation in Civil Engineering from the
University of Karachi, Mazhar did his M. Sc (Civil) from Lehigh
University, Bethlehem, PA. Due to his outstanding performance in the
field of construction industry, his construction company "Maymar
Housing Services" carved a respectable place for itself in the
country. Gulshan-e-Maymar and various other housing projects his
company has given to Karachi are still referred as the symbol of
quality constructions.
Syed Mazhar is also the Chairman of Computer
Training & Testing Centre Karachi since 1997 to date. He is the
founder of the "Pakistan Zindabad Tehreek" and the former
Chairman of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD). He remained
associated with the formation of the Sindh Building Control Ordinance,
1979. Construction of 3000 low cost housing units in Surjani Town also
goes to his professional credit. He was the member of the Senate of
Pakistan during 1987-1994. Syed Mazhar was also the Chairman of Tax
Reforms Committee during 1990-1991. He also served as the Chairman,
Resource Mobilization & Tax Reforms Commission (1991 to 1994). He
was also the Member, Privatization Committee for PTCL and the
Vice-chairman, National Housing Authority, GOP.
Currently, he is responsible for e-governance
project of the Federal Government, member Board of Directors PTCL,
Chairman Think Tank of PTCL, member Sindh IT Board, Member governing
Body, Karachi Development Authority (KDA) and holding senior position
in various government and private sector organizations and forum.
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