opportunities for engineering students

Most of the engineering students tend to select European or North American universities for undergraduate degrees. Here i would like to tell students that there are other opportunities around the world except for European or North American univesitites.

These univesitites tend be extremely expensive as compared to that in Asia which are comparable to these. I would like to name few of them like NUS(National University of Singapore) and NTU(Nanyang technological university) both of these are Singaporean. In terms of enginering degrees they are amongst the top 50 and according to some rankings they are even amongst top 10. And Malaysia is also a good cost effective choice of one wants to pursue an engineering degree.

Though there are many good universities in Asia but i will be concentrating my discussion on Singaporean universities. Firstly, I would like to start with NUS. Its engineering programme is amongst one of the best in the world. You can find more about its engineering programmes on its website www.nus.edu.sg

The best thing about NUS and other Singaporean universities is that they are much cheaper that their American and European counterparts with equally recognized and well established degree. One can take out a loan even as an international student. But it is based on ceratin conditions. Like one has to work in any Singaporean company for three years after graduating. Burt in my opinion its not a big deal. After getting loan its expenses are about Rs. 200,000 a year which I think is equivalent to expenses incurred in any Pakistani private university. So, I think with a minimal cost benefits are immense.

NUS comprise of excellent facilities for the students on campus.

Lecture Theater at NUS

It has an internationally recognized faculty. Its proximity to Pakistan is also one of the favorable factors. So , its like a win win situation. But here i would like to point out the fact that admission requirements are extremely competitive at NUS and there is some quota system as well. So, only the best from Pakistan can get into it.

for financial assistance info at NUS this link can be checked out www.admissions.nus.edu.sg/financialaid.html










NTU is also a good engineering university of Singapore. Its fee structure and financial aid requirements are similar to NUS. For more details its website can be checked out www.nus.edu.sg

For details on NTU financial assistance check out: www.admissions.ntu.edu.sg/FA/Pages/ForUndergraduate.aspx

I just made an effort to highlight few of the avenues that Pakistani engineering students can explore.

Oxford vs Cambridge

With teaching history starting from 1096 A.D and and 1209 A.D. both oxford and cambridge universities are the focus of young generation for quality education, a quality supported from their appearence in Top 10 universities worldwide consistently over a period of decades. But the major difference you see here........Cambridge university appears in top 5 but oxford has a history of top 10! a rare case when a child institute has better ranking than the parent
(Cambridge was found in 1209 by some scholars who left oxford due to a dispute).


While I will be discussing many factors in coming days, what today is my topic of discussion is the form of organization and departmentalization which they assume.


The great University of Cambridge in Picture

1- Organization:

Both have forms of collegiation with many colleges and affiliations.

OXFORD: An affiliation of many colleges, many academic departments, with academic members spread over all colleges, separate management within colleges, each college with optimal yet different standard, and own faculty.

FAMOUS COLLEGES: Magdalen College,St Catherine College... a total of 38 colleges and 6 permanent private halls



CAMBRIDGE: Inherits its form of organistaion from oxford, self governing independent colleges and departments, multidisciplened libraries.

FAMOUS COLLEGES: Tirinity College, Saint John's Colleges, Kings College...a total of 31 colleges, 3 only for females and 28 for mixed sexes...The 3 colleges dedicated to women are quite biased socially but what they say to defend themseleves is that a majority of males in those 28 mixed colleges should be compensated, but what we argue is that there is all open merit seat allocation over the university, there should be no need for such biased colleges!Thats all for today! see ya!

Comparison: ACCA or MBA

Recently many institutions sprung up in Pakistan offering ACCA, CAT classes. But is it good for ones career to do ACCA/CAT especially when BBA/MBA is also an option to pursue by young people.

I would definitely say that MBA/BBA is much more diverse than ACCA. After doing MBA/BBA one can make up career in marketing, finance, IT, HR or SCM. So, in this comparison MBA/BBA beats ACCA quite easily. But I would suggest anyone who has strong interest in Finance to do ACCA.

Students in ACCA are generally much better than in MBA/BBA doin major in Finance. So, I mean that ACCA students know much about finance than MBA/BBA students. It is because ACCA emphasises on finance. MBA/BBA on the other hand focuses on all of business functions like marketing, finance, IT, HR or SCM.

If one wants to keep option open so one should opt for MBA/BBA. ACCA merely concentrates on Finance and after doing ACCA its difficult for one to switch to marketing or HR or SCM. So, generally speaking MBA/BBA is better to switch between different fields.

ACCA has its own benefit of being recognized around the globe. Here in Pakistan anyone who is not doing anything just goes and register for ACCA. It should not be like that. If one really wants to pursue career in Finance then one should opt for it. Otherwise, it could result in a disaster of ones career.

For MBA/BBA there are many institutions offering good degrees like:

IBA, Karachi
http://www.iba.edu.pk/

LUMS, Lahore
http://www.lums.edu.pk/

SZABIST
http://www.szabist.edu.pk/

CBM
http://www.iobm.edu.pk/

COMSATS
http://ciit-isb.edu.pk/

NUST
http://www.nust.edu.pk/

For ACCA there are many good institutions like:

Al-Hamd
http://www.alhamd.edu.pk/

TSA
http://www.tsa.edu.pk/

SKANS
http://www.skans.edu.pk/


I think its enough for today. If u people have any queries then i will be more than happy to answer.

Concrete comparison: IBA vs LUMS

So, now after a general comparison between theses two business schools now i will compare them on certain criteria.

If one asks about LUMS fauclty then its one of the best in Asia. IBA is not bad. But definitely here LUMS is better than IBA. In HEC ranking LUMS has been given more points for faculty. IBA does have some of excellent teachers from Cambridge, MIT,Harvard but in general its not better than LUMS.

In terms of students IBA has much more hardworking and brilliant students than LUMS. In HEC ranking IBA students are given more points than LUMS. If u see different competitions around the world then it can be seen quite clearly that participation of IBA students is much more and better than LUMS.

As far as facilities are concerned LUMS is better than IBA. But none the less IBA is doing concerted efforts under Mr. Ishrat Hussain to upgrade its facilities so as to meet the international standards. It has a vast land at its main campus in karachi university. So, its a matter of years that it would be converted into a university with excellent sports and recreational facilities.

On the whole IBA does lag behind LUMS but i am sure in few years time IBA would be better than LUMS and even better than many other universities in Asia.

Scholarships

Its a basic right for every human being to study even if one cant afford to. So, in Pakistan if one is talented then it is not that he wont be admitted to any good university on the basis of his/her financial constraints.

There are many universities which offer scholarships to meritorious students. For instance, IBA, LUMS, CBM, SZABIST are few of them. There are several other scholarships offered by government as well as HEC. Sindh Endowment Fund is one of the government sponsored scholarships. SBP loan scheme is also being launched by the government to financially aid students in their education.

So once one gets admission in a good university then fee is not an issue because there are several funding sources available.

These websites can be checked out for further scholarships information:

1. http://www.hec.gov.pk/scholarships
2. iba.edu.pk/aid.htm
3. www.nbp.com.pk/StudentLoan/
4. http://www.lums.edu.pk/financial_assistance/overview.php

As far as higher education commission is concerned there are following categories mentioned at their site:

1- Undergraduate Scholarships

2- Graduate Scholarships

3- MS leading to Phd SSs

Now, all of us are aware that current politics (Mr. Zardari :p etc, IMF loans ) have made the attainment quite tough than before,(HEC has been cut short by 97% on funds this fiscal year, alas;-)) so there are a limited number of seats but I can suggest following steps to make your chances far more better

1- Your marks and percentage over the career do matter, but express them cleverly, mention gpa if it appears better, otherwise percentage, mention distinctions also.

2- Dont forget to mention your project works and other things that you are proud about they contribute a lot.

3- Hire a professional to help with ur forms for application.(maybe me:p)

4- Arrange a university admission(a good ranked one worldwide), get admission and then apply for scholarship at all sources available(this is a whole new topic I'll write it separately later, if u wish:p)

5- Nust also awards you scholarship.... but only after you get admission in a reputed university:, now dont you think Ill help you on this also, do some research yourself too. I tell you I charge a great amount for individual consultancies. Be careful.

6- Do work hard in your current program if you are dreaming of a significant abroad-higher study scholarship for future, straight Cs are as useless as Fs.

7- Prepare for professional tests TOFEL, GRE, GMAT, ILETS etc....and dont forget to take them too, just preparation means nothing to them, they want proofs...lol:p

8- And finally... don't loose hope..pray for good times to come and just wait... make sure you do some thing else also while waiting.

And here I bring to you some links for scholarships in backdays...

HEC- Japanese need based Scholarship. HEC-US need based Scholarship.

www.interface.edu.pk/students/Jan-08/HEC-scholarships.asp

Local and International Scholarships for Pakistani Students
www.ilmkidunya.com/Scholarship/scholarships_pakistan.asp

(HEC) Japanese Need Based/Merit Scholarships
HEC- Japanese Need Based Scholarships program for the Pakistani University students aimed at providing equal opportunities to talented students

www.fui.edu.pk/web/page.asp?id=440 -

HEC scholarships – Pakistan - The University of Auckland
The Pakistan HEC Scholarship programme is a partnership between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) and The University of Auckland.

www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/is-hec-scholarships

HEC MBA - Admissions - Financing - Scholarships
HEC scholarships fall into various categories: merit-based, need-based, ... In addition, HEC scholarships cover tuition fees only for courses taken on the ...

www.mba.hec.edu/Admissions/Financing/Scholarships -

Now thats much for today. See you!

IBA events

IBA, Karachi charity carnival

Iba will conduct a charity carnival in collabration with Zindagi Trust. It is held by iba's alumni, CWS and music societies.

On Sunday, 8th March at IBA University Campus from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

It includes a concert, food and plenty of other stuff. The tickets are for Rs.200/=

funds collected would go to Zindagi Trust for child education.

For tickets contact 0322-2279963, 0321-2098049

this program is only for IBA faculty, alumni , students and staff.

University comparison: IBA vs LUMS

IBA and LUMS are one of the best business schools in Pakistan. These two are even recognised across Asia. It's a dream of many students to pursue business education at one of these schools.

IBA, Karachi has its own repute of being the oldest business school outside North America. It has been pretty successful in maintaining its standard since then. It offers 4-years BBA, BBA(MIS),BS and BCS degrees. It's graduate degrees consist of 2-years MBA and MBA(MIS) degrees.

LUMS, Lahore has been established in 1985. But it has built it's reputation in quite a short span of time. It offers B.Sc Accounting and Finance, Economics and several other disciplines. It also offers MBA degree at graduate level.