Bahria University convocation: Old and fresh graduates line up for degrees

Students at Bahria University convocation feel they need more active alumni to get better jobs.

KARACHI: Old and fresh graduates of Bahria University lined up for their degrees on Monday when they gathered for the institute’s 7th convocation.

The university awarded degrees to 516 graduates in the disciplines of business management, computer engineering, software engineering, telecommunication and networking, professional psychology and geophysics.

Sara Fayyaz, who was receiving her degree after a year, was nostalgic to see her friends. “I wish the old times could come back,” she said. Sara started working at Pakistan State Oil as a senior officer around six months ago but there are still 70 per cent students from her batch who are looking for jobs. She admitted that getting a job was not easy and a very tiring process given the competition.

An MBA Finance graduate, Adnan Ahmed, said that he liked the university’s discipline the most. Adnan was grateful to his teachers, namely Amir Shamsi, Naveed Shehzad and Akbar Saeed, who taught him business research, strategy management and corporate finance respectively.

“I will always cherish the events and official dinners that brought together students and teachers and gave us a chance to learn from them,” he said. Adnan also admitted that he will face a lot of competition from the students of IBA, Szabist and CBM.

Other students felt, however, that the university lags behind in career counselling. They felt that this was mainly because their alumni are inactive. “They [the university] don’t invite professionals as much as IBA and other universities do,” said one student.

A teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the university’s policy, disagreed and said that the university holds regular alumni dinners. He felt that the only reason they lag behind is because they are relatively new and do not have as big a pool of alumni as other universities.

Another student recommended Bahria to other aspiring students but she said she was a little disappointed in the faculty. “I recently had a chance to go to another university’s convocation and noticed that all their faculty members were PhDs unlike ours,” she said.

The teacher explained that this was an edge that Bahria enjoyed over other institutes. “We make it a point to appoint faculty members who are not just academics but also working in the field,” he said.

Bahria University cannot market itself because it is a military set up with limited alumni, he added. The teacher further said that they admit students with both above average and average backgrounds and try their best to groom them.

Higher Education Commi-ssion chairperson Dr Javaid R Laghari, who was the chief guest, congratulated the graduating students. The present strength of the ever growing number of students in Bahria University’s Islamabad and Karachi campuses speak volumes about the standard of education, he said.

“In the present competitive environment students need to be the taught art of reasoning with tolerance and respect for the norms and values of international culture and social ethos,” he said. Despite being a major part of the country’s population, youth participation in higher education is only three per cent, said Laghari.

Earlier, Bahria University rector Vice Admiral (retired) Mohammad Haroon said that the enrolment of students in Bahria University has increased from 2,500 in 2005 to 8,600 in 2010. In order to expand and strengthen its Karachi Campus, the university has already established a number of new departments, such as medical and dental sciences, social sciences, and law.

“Remember that every one of us is born as a distinct individual with tremendous intuitive and intellectual qualities. Discover those hidden qualities and apply them in your life, success will come your way,” he advised the graduates.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.