Neuigkeit zur PetitionRevert the massive increase in semester fee at FAST - NUCES for 2018-2019Respected Director of FAST-Lahore, Dr. Amjad Hussain has responded
Ibrahim ZafarLahore, Pakistan
31.05.2018 — Background: The petition "Revert the massive increase in semester fee at FAST - NUCES for 2018-2019" was created by students of FAST-National University in response to the updated Fee Policy for the academic year 2018-2019. See University's official website: http://www.nu.edu.pk/Admissions/FeeStructure The increment in the Per Credit hour fee for the from the 2016-2017 to the 2017-2018 academic year was 6.3%. The University uploaded a new Fee Policy for the academic year 2018-2019, in which the fee for Computer Science students increases by 26.9% per annum, while the dues of Business Administration, Accounting and Finance, Civil and Electrical Engineering increase by 19.4%. An update was posted yesterday, addressing the respected Board of Governors, the Chancellor, and the Rector, as the petition of highly increased fee received support from all branches of FAST-National University. Our petition received widespread support from all students on social media platforms, exceeding 4800 signatures. Many ex-students (alumni) supported the petition by sharing it on Whatsapp, Facebook and Snapchat. Faculty members also voiced their opinions, many of us sympathizing with students and showing support on their wall posts and in the comment sections of public statuses. A faculty member of FAST-Lahore, Sir Syed Asad Kazmi voiced his support for the petition in a lengthy status, where he shed light over valid concerns. The status went: "Rs. 7500-8500/credit hour.. 127K-145K for a regular semester in CS at FAST. According to my knowledge the fee last semester was 107k for 17 credit hours. Which now will be 144k. A sudden increase of about 35k. This is insane. And still trying to justify it. Since many years FAST has lost its purpose and clearly focusing on the numbers only. This is the university that shuts down at 5/6 P.M. daily and is closed completely sealed on weekends. In a CS focused university, the students have university premises open only till the last class timings that is 5:30ish daily. No student can use the library or computer labs afterwards. No student can come and study in university on the weekends. Even in the stupidly short time that campus remains open, the classrooms are LOCKED down when they don't have a class scheduled so that no student can sit peacefully and study there. Such a sick administration, a bunch of idiots governing FAST and using it just for the sake of money. Destroying the standards of education and playing with the students and torturing them. The intake of students has increased massively and I have heard soon a double annual intake is going to be started for Lahore campus.The facilities provided to the students are getting worse and they still feel the need to increase the fees, and the only argument would be comparison of fees with other universities. Bloody look at other things those campuses are offering too. 1. The university premises are shut 2 days a week primarily to save electricity, because there were some huge electricity bills and this is the only way to do it. 2. The labs and library is open for only 10 hours a day. 3. There are no charging slots for the laptops of students in the Library since the weekends were turned off (when I last checked) and the librarian argues that there are hundreds of students in the university if we provide the charging slots, the electricity bill will shoot up exponentially. It is a ****ing Computer science university. 4. The rooms are locked as soon as the class is over and their is no lecture scheduled in the room. So you cannot sit in a room and discuss or work on your projects, assignment or just simply study. 5. Not only students, the visiting faculty (which not to mention is a huge amount for past many years) gets paid nothing but shit. A TA of a course gets 12K for a WHOLE semester. It is more than the fuel that he/she consumes to come to university throughout the semester. 6. Their is no proper ground, the ground is being used for parking since ages. 7. There is a place which is meant to be a tennis court but it doesn't even has a net. There is no budget for such things, the society raises funds through events and gets these things right and rent table tennis tables for events. NO mind relaxing activity on campus. All the points and many more and still the fee keeps increasing every semester. There is a detailed analysis given in the drive link in the petition description. This needs to end. Stop increasing a single rupee in fees unless the facilities you provide are improving. Stop taking huge intakes which you cannot manage and as a result students even have to face shit moods of the admin. Enough with the nonsense. Students need to protest and I am in it. Given the tiny size of the campus and HUGE intake of students I challenge the administration to show the details of income/expenditure and justify the fees structure with lesser lame shit. http://www.nu.edu.pk/Admissions/FeeStructure" The post received huge response from students and alumni alike. Our worthy Director, Dr. Amjad Hussain also posted his reply in the comment section. Director FAST-Lahore, Dr. Amjad Hussain posted his reply, which read : "Syed Asad Kazmi, Tuition fees are being increased with the suggestions and approvals of competent authorities. FAST-NUCES Lahore is considered a Tier-1 university. Our tuition fees are much less than many Tier-2 and Tier-3 private universities. On the other hand, please remember that ITU, NUST and COMSATS are in public sector and get a lot of funding from the government (public money), whereas, we do not get any government funding except some scholarships directly paid to students for which we are thankful to the government. You are asking us not to increase the tuition fee, but comparing the facilities with those of LUMS. Please note that LUMS charges a tuition fee which is about four (4) times higher than ours. I know the scarcity of certain facilities, all these come with money. We intend to improve the facilities, we are short of money, that is the reason tuition fee are being increased. Recently library hes been expanded and renovated, I see very little appreciation for it. As a result of continuous pressing from Lahore Campus, a new and larger building for Cafeteria was approved but the construction could not started for the last two years because of reservations on the architecture from some members from higher management, Alhamdulillah, now they have approved the design, hopefully construction for the new cafe in Lahore (about four times larger than the current one) will start in about a few weeks time and will be ready by the end of the year, it will also have a car parking space for more than 200 cars in its basement. We have recently provided a charging station in cafe, we are in the process of making and providing more, and in the near future (before the start of Fall-2018) many more charging stations will be available, not only in library but in many other places in the campus. The increase in the electricity bill because of charging laptops is a misleading statement, there is no such thing. In the recent past we have increased the sitting capacity inside the buildings by placing many new benches, as well as outside the building by providing more benches. I intend and we are already working to increase it further before the start of Fall-2018. Students demand for hiring more quality faculty, and they are right in this demand. We put our best efforts to bring in the best available faculty, but they demand higher salaries, which require more money. There is a hue and cry for the faculty that had left during the past few years; please remember that they were among the highest paids in FAST-NUCES. Some other universities had hired them with more than double salaries, are we able to give that high salaries? No, not possible with our current income, even with increased fees. The accounts of FAST are not secret. You can calculate by yourself, the income and the expenditures. You will appreciate that no one take any profit from FAST-NUCES, so please be careful while accusing the university for making money. The class rooms where classes are not being conducted are locked for other reasons. The students club fund with the new name "Student Activities Fund" @Rs.1,500/- per student per semester has been revived from Fall-2018 semester, so the students activities will get a boost. You are requested to please contribute positively in the uplift of the campus rather than criticizing based on half known facts, misinformation, and assumptions. Your campaign of signing the petition is not a useful move, it will just increase the frustration among the students and will give a bad name to the campus. I know that no one wants to pay more, but please be just while comparing with the facilities provided by the universities with a lot more tuition fees and/or throwaway kind of public money funding and at the same time campaigning against the increase in fee. The quality of teaching we provide is much much better than many of those who are charging a tuition fee that are much higher than ours. Anyone is always welcome to meet me to discuss and understand the points that I couldn't have written here and to clear any misunderstandings. I am sure that from within, all of our students and alumni want to work for the betterment and uplift of the campus rather than against it. I will not be commenting anymore on this thread/post. Welcome to meet you anytime in my office individually or in a group." Link for official facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/asadakazmi5/posts/2128155630797341 Later, Dr. Amjad Hussain, sent an email to all students from the official FAST-NU emailing portal. The email went as follows : "Dear students, For quite some time I am thinking to make a new students' society with the name "Happiness Club" or something similar. The purpose will be to learn to be happy and to spread happiness.While I used to discuss this idea with friends and colleagues, I came to know through an alumnus that in UAE, the government has a ministry of happiness. I also came to know that in some universities in the west, they offer a course on happiness. Not to that extent, but can do something, in the first place to learn to be happy and keep learning it throughout our life and then spreading it among others, out family, friends, and especially to our fellow students. All of you who like this idea and are also willing to work for it may send me your consent by replying to this email (please do not send a new mail) with in next few days or at the most within a week. We will then have our first meeting and will discuss our future path. Later on we will also make an executive body of this society/club." Dr. Amjad Hussain further expressed his idea of a 'Happiness Club' on Facebook in a post. Link for Dr. Amjad's official Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/ProfAmjadHussain?fref=ufi A former student of FAST made a very valid point : "With Due Respect, Many of students here at FAST (Including me) have no issues with new fee Structures as for us ,few Hundred Rupees Increment in free not the right thing to be worried about. But It’s not the condition of whole University Students. We Belong to a Country where People have to consider the price of Medicine before Purchasing it for their Children. People Have to buy Soap instead of Detergent because Price Matters. People Have to Consider School Fee Before Sending their Children to School. It’s all Because of the Fact that we Are A Poor Nation. Our Debts are more than our Income. I know someone (There could be many) who Had to Sell her Mothers Jewellery in order to Pay the University Fee. I am Here to Record Protest against the Fee Hike. And I Hope You Would Reconsider it." Many students felt that this initiative of a 'Happiness Club' was great and are willing to talk to the Director about it, however most students still felt that it failed to address the issue that students had raised, i.e. the increased fee. The petition has received 4800+ signatures. We hope that respected Chancellor and President of the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Technology(FAST), Mr. Wasim Sajjad, the Secretary General Rana Ghulam Shabbir, Chairman of the Board of Governors and Rector Dr. Ayub Alvi, and respected Board Members, Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal, Mr. Nisar A. Memon, Mr. Rashid A. Khan, Dr. M. Latif Virk Mr. Ahmed Farooq and Chairman HEC shall look into this matter, and reconsider imposing such a high fees. A gradual fee increment of 5-6% may be implemented, as has happened in past academic years. #ReplyfromDirector #DrAmjadHussain #BoardofGovernors #Director #Chancellor #Rector #SayNoToStudentLoans #SaveTheStudent #FAST #NUCES #Lahore #Islamabad #Faisalabad #Karachi #NoFeeTillLowFee Sign and share this petition to support students and parents of students studying at FAST-National University. - Students of FAST-National University
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