KARACHI – Sindh Assembly’s approval to grant university status to Dawood College of Engineering and Technology (DCET) was highly praised by the college’s senior faculty and staff members in a meeting here on Thursday.
DECT In-charge Principle Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh presided over the meeting. The meeting lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq for the passing of a bill to grant university status to DCET in Sindh Assembly on February 27.
The meeting also appreciated restless efforts of Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh for getting university status for the DCET.
It is worth mentioning that Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh got university status for two institutions of the city– Sindh Madressatul Islam and Dowood Engineering College within a period of one year.
Earlier, these two institutions were working under administrative control of Federal Education Ministry, but after passage of 18th amendment in 2011, these historic institutions came under administrative control of the Sindh government. After this, the provincial government first awarded university status to Sindh Madressahtul Islam on February 16, 2012 and later to the DCET on February 27, 2013.
Meanwhile, the meeting also demanded the Sindh government to allocate at least 50 acres of land for Dowood University of Engineering and Technology in the Education City, because presently the DCET had two campuses at Karachi, each comprising about 4 acres: one is located near Mazar-e-Quaid and the other is near PIA Planetarium in Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
“The total area of these two campuses is eight acres, while as per requirement of the Higher Education Commission, each university should have at least 10 acres of land, out of which at least three acres should be in the city and remaining may be in the vicinity of the city,” the meeting resolved.
Addressing the meeting, Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh said the DCET got university status within a short span of time due to efforts and personal interest of the Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan and Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazharul Haq. He also lauded decision of legislators of the Sindh Assembly. “President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari was also keenly interested in giving university status to DECT,” Dr Shaikh maintained.
He further said that Dowood Engineering University would be second public sector engineering university of the city after NED, and third engineering university after a private sector university – Sir Syed Engineering University.
He said admissions in Dawood Engineering University would be given only to the students of Sindh (rural and urban), while the seats will be given to the students of other provinces on reciprocal basis.
Other participants of the meeting included: Engineer Rashid Baig, Dean of Engineering Faculty, Engineer Abdul Waheed Bhutto, Director Services, Gul Mohammad Bhayo, Controller of Examinations, Ghulam Shabbir Bughio, Registrar, Architect G.M. Nawaz, Dean of Faculty of Architecture, Architect Yasir Naeem Pasha, Director of Architecture and Planning, Imdad Ali Memon, Treasure and Shakir Hussain.