ISLAMABAD: The students of the electrical engineering department of Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology (FUUAST) boycotted the final exams on Tuesday against the non-affiliation of the department with the professional body.
The students gathered in front of the examination hall and protested against the university administration for not registering the department with the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and refused to appear for the exam. Harsh words were exchanged between the university students and additional registrar, who tried to persuade the protesting students to appear in the exam.
The students chanted slogans in the examination hall in favour of their demands and against the university administration, who they alleged was trying to play with their future.
The irate students were of the view that it is meaningless to sit in the examination when the university could not issue them a degree.
Earlier, the students gave the deadline to the university administration until January 31 for the resolution of their demands, including shifting of the university to alternate place, but the university did nothing to this effect. The students were of the view that they could not trust the university administration anymore as the administration was responsible for the present situation they are facing currently.
It is quite surprising that the Supreme Court’s (SC) deadline given to the university to shift to an alternate place has elapsed but the university administration did nothing in this regard. Presently, the university is run in a rented WAPDA building and has some 5,000 students.
The WAPDA has already sent a ‘final notice’ to the FUUAST to vacate the building for not paying rent to the owner institution for several months. The students stressed the authorities concerned to resolve the issue on war-footing, as the university management was not taking interest in resolving the matter.
The irate students demanded that Higher Education Commission (HEC) should take notice of the issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that FUUAST failed to construct its own building despite having 80-Kanals of land for the last several years. The university administration purchased land for its own building at Kuri Road in 2009 but construction work has not been started due to a tussle among the high-ups of the university.
Pakistan Engineering Council is not ready to accredit the electrical engineering department of the university owing to non-availability of labs required for the programme.
Current rooms and laboratories do not fulfil the criteria required for registration with the PEC and it has conditioned the affiliation with shifting of the department and the labs in a proper building due to which future of the department students remains uncertain.