AWARD CEREMONY 2016
A simple but impressive ceremony to hand over the DCET Alumni scholarship cheques of Rs. 23,000/= each to 20 selected students was held on Friday February 19, 2016 at the Board Room of Dawood University of Engineering & Technology (DUET), Karachi. The chief guest was Dr. Faizullah Abbasi, Vice Chancellor DUET. Others representing DUET at the ceremony were Dr. Dost Ali Khawaja Dean & Capt. Waqar Registrar. Alumni representatives present on the occasion were Muslim Abbasi, Shafiq Ahmed, Abdul Aziz Khan, Syed Shakir Ali, Faraz Toosi and H. Jamal Zubairi.
The scholarship recipients were selected on need-cum merit basis after thorough screening of applications, short listing and interviewing process. Speaking on the occasion, VC Mr. Abbasi congratulated the students and thanked the Alumni for awarding the scholarships. He urged the students to work hard so that the ones from the first year could continue to receive the scholarships in the coming years till they graduate. He also emphasized that after qualifying and getting employed they should pay back their alma mater by contributing funds for scholarships for the students joining the University after they have left. The VC also threw light on some of steps he is undertaking for long term improvement in infra structure, standard and standing of DUET. For this purpose he is getting support by way of funds from private sector companies as part of their CSR activities on the one hand. On the other hand, students are also being motivated to work hard and discipline is being strengthened e.g. the students are now required to have a minimum class attendance of 75 percent for being eligible to appear in final exams.
After VC’s address, Dr. Waqar requested Muslim Abbasi, DCET Alumni Karachi Chapter Coordinator, to say few words. Muslim urged the students to work hard for achieving success in their careers and briefly introduced the Alumni present as success stories of people who graduated from the same alma mater. In between, on Muslim’s request Shafiq Ahmad, Abdul Aziz Khan and myself also briefly addressed the students. Shafiq highlighted Muslim’s contribution at EMI and also mentioned about his own role as a teacher at DCET and that one of his students was presently heading IBM in Pakistan. He also mentioned about Abdul Aziz and Asif Ahmed as two active Alumni who were position holders in their class (1972 batch) and their professional work in the Middle East. On attendance requirement, Jamal Zubairi recalled that in his times attendance requirement was strict and parents were also periodically received letters informing them about the attendance position of their children. In this context he mentioned that students had to keep good relations with their postman so the letters of adverse attendance were not seen by their parents.
After the speeches, the students were allowed to leave and the VC entertained those present with tea and cookies. A formal ceremony on a larger scale is planned to be held soon in the DUET auditorium in which all scholarship recipients, DCET Alumni members of Karachi and senior faculty members of DUET (as was done last year with high tea, etc) will be invited to attend.
From the Alumni’s viewpoint, the most satisfying part was to see and feel the brightness in the eyes and the hope in the happy faces of the scholarship recipients.
