Pakistani universities (NUST)

National University of Sciences and Technology, commonly known by its acronym NUST, is a public university that was primarily founded by the Government of Pakistan in 1991 to train members of the Pakistan Armed Forces after merging together previously established military institutes and colleges.[2] After getting chartered in 1993,[2][3] NUST soon established its place in the list of the best engineering universities in Pakistan.[4] NUST is multi-school university with its headquarters initially located in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. In 2008, the headquarters were shifted to the newly constructed campus in Islamabad. Other campuses are situated in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Risalpur.
The university is co-educational, established to promote higher scientific education in the country especially in the field of sciences and technology. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees leading to PhD in the fields of engineering, information technology, medical sciences, and management sciences. NUST is affiliated with Pakistan Engineering Council and Higher Education Commission Pakistan.[5][6] In 2009, NUST was ranked as 350th best University in the world by THES World University Rankings.[7]
After the separation of Pakistan in 1947, the training of military corpsmen became one of the top priorities of the Government. In 1947, Military College of Signals was established as School of Signals to enhance professional competency of Corps of Signals by imparting high quality training in the field of telecommunications. A year later, in 1948, Military College of Engineering (MCE) was established at Sialkot to train the corps in the field of engineering. In 1951, MCE was given a status of college and was shifted to its present location in Risalpur. On 1 April 1809, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (CEME) was established at Quetta as EME School and a few years later in 1962 PNEC was established in Karachi. To train the members of Pakistan Air Force, College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE) was established at Korangi Creek, Karachi in 1965. All these schools and colleges were developed only to train the army and work independent of each other back then. In 1969, EME School was given the status of College and civilians were admitted in the college. In 1976, College of Medical Sciences was established as Army Medical College (AMC) and a year later in 1977 first MBBS course started there. In the same year School of Signals was upgraded to college. In 1981 BSc program started at CEME giving it the status of a university and a few years later in April 1984 CEME moved to its current location in Rawalpindi from Quetta. In May 1986, CAE was shifted to PAF Academy in Risalpur.
Founding of NUST
Formed by pooling together military and civil educational resources, NUST was established in 1991 by the Government of Pakistan. After its development, already existing military schools and colleges became constituent colleges of NUST. The first college to get affiliated with NUST was MCS in 1991. In 1993, the university was granted chartered and CEME and MCE became part of the university. In December 1994 and November 1995, CAE and PNEC became constitutes of NUST respectively. All the constituent colleges were upgraded, in September 1997 MS program was started at CAE, in 1998 MS program was started at PNEC and in the same year Bachelor of Dental Surgery was started at AMC. In 1999, CEME and CAE attained ISO 9001 Certification, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (SEECS) was launched in Islamabad, and NUST Business School (then known as NIMS) was established.
Recent developments
In 2003, CEME further improved its quality and received ISO 9001-2000 certification. In the same year, Center for Cyber Technology and Spectrum Management was launched in Islamabad. In May 2004, Center for Advanced Mathematics and Physics was created. PhD program started at CEME in 2006. In 2007, Center of Virology & Immunology was developed to increase research in the field of medical sciences in Pakistan. Recently in 2008, a new campus was developed in Islamabad. Some old colleges are being shifted to this campus and many new schools are developed such as School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Mechanical and Manufacture Sciences, and Research Center for Modeling and Simulation.
Academics
Profile
NUST is the first model university established by the Ministry of Science and Technology like KAIST of Korea.[2] The student body consists of over 6,000 students, including 102 international students and over 884 postgraduate students. In 2008, over 27,000 candidates applied for the undergraduate programs at NUST. NUST has over 675 full time employed faculty staff including 17 members from international universities and many professors and lecturers are a part of visiting faculty of NUST. In addition to this, eminent professors from reputed universities around the world visit NUST as a regular feature under collaborative arrangements. Majority of the faculty members are PhD and M.Phil professors from reputed universities around the world. A large number of sponsored students and faculty members, doing their PhD from abroad, are scheduled to return to NUST from 2008 onwards which will further increase the number of PhD professors in the faculty.
Admission to all engineering undergraduate courses in NUST is granted through written entrance examinations, while admission to medical, business, master and PhD programs is based primarily on an interview along with a written test in most cases. The basic requirement for admission in undergraduate program is FSc Pre-Engineering from any Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education or any equivalent qualification (like Overseas High School Certificate, British Advanced Level of Certificate, International Baccalaureate etc). Minimum 60% marks is required in each Matriculation and FSc/Equivalent Exam. Students can also apply on the basis of their SAT scores, however admissions on the basis of SAT have reserved seats. NUST has reserved seats in most of the disciplines for students applying from abroad. International students can apply only on the basis of their SAT I and SAT II scores.
Financial aid is offered to bright students who are financially handicapped and from backward areas. Financial incentives for the high achievers in undergraduate programs is awarded to about 25% of students on performance and need basis. Students who secure top positions in each discipline in the NUST admission test are not required to pay any tuition fee during first semester on joining in that discipline. Remaining students in each discipline are given financial assistance worked out as per their merit for first semester on joining. Apart from that the students who maintains a GPA of 3.5 and above in subsequent semesters get financial assistance within the range of 15-75% of their tuition fees. Students directly admitted in PhD program in IT related disciplines are given scholarships from Endowment Fund and Mega Project Fund.
Research
Research and Development (R&D) Directorate is established at the NUST headquarters which encourages the growth of research culture in the university through the provision of necessary resources and supporting infrastructure including facilitating activities for faculty and students to apply their efforts into research. All efforts of R&D Directorate are coordinated through an organizational structure at various tiers consisting of NUST headquarters, R&D Cells at each constituent college, and NUST's commercial arms (Technology Incubation Center and NUST Consulting.
R&D Cells
In order to enhance the scope and pace of research and development work, each college, institute, and center has an R&D Cell headed by a PhD qualified faculty member who co-ordinates, monitors and records all the R&D activities of the college. The head coordinates all the activities among various departments, faculty members, researchers, students, and industries identifying potential projects and sources of funds. The R&D Cell ensures implementation, monitoring, and progress of ongoing projects.
NUST Consulting (NC)
NUST Consulting facilitates researchers for undertaking consultancy services with external agencies. In this regard, all centers are actively involved with NC to exploit their full potential and in solving industrial problems such as improving efficiency, reduction of wastage, increasing productivity, and improving quality at competitive costs.
Technology Incubation Center (TIC)
NUST established Technology Incubation Center with an aim to combine industrial development and technological research together and establishing the linkages between constituent institutes and the industry. TIC will also help faculty members in identifying the end users apart from commercializing of R&D output.[10]
University - Industry Linkages
All centers and faculty members involved in research are required to keep a close liaison with industrial setups. The new campus established in Islamabad is co-located with Tech Town in Sector I-12, where IT and electronics related industries and Technology Parks are planned to be set up, so as to promote university and industry linkages.[11] Apart from this, NUST is providing training and consultancy services to the industry and other business organizations.[10]
NUST has also procured lab equipment essentially needed for doctoral and postdoctoral research work with financing through Islamic Development Bank (IDB). IDB is financing 26 million dollars as grant for availing the services of highly qualified researchers from abroad, over and above the programs of Ministry of Science & Technology, Pakistan