Astonishment fueled into me when I got to know what people think about
University of Karachi and how they feel about their association with
the university. My fellow students who are presently associated with
the university have vast cultural and ethnic backgrounds and share
contrasting views and opinions that made it rather challenging for me
to pen down their experiences. However to sum up all the answers, it
is clear that the university and the way it is managed is not highly
appreciated amongst students. Some of the views gathered suggest the
following:
University of Karachi is an ancient laboratory, a massive project that
overshadows other universities at one corner of the city. The only
university that is able to provide a wider range of subjects and yet
the learning curve is a constant downward slope. Teachers like to be
fooled when students submit assignment from Wikipedia without even
changing its font and still they pass with flying colors. Almost zero
about helping students in becoming valued and potential achievers and
a place where students learn under the lobby of politics. A university
that had enrolled highest students registrations indicating parents’
choice but remains in a state where protests had been done to get the
funds to run it in actual. An institution where teachers from all
around the world gather and use their expertise to get the best out of
students but still students from universities such as LUMS, CAMS and
Szabist are considered potential candidates for practicality in
societal gatherings and designations at multinational companies.
After summing up all the answers I would just say that this is one
peerless definition of KU. The expression “Mixed Feelings” is now
comprehensible to me!!! How would you react on this?
Ancient university!!! wont diasgree to that!! over the years instead of the standards being improved they are becoming worse...being an ex-graduate from the uni i think that i wasted by 4 years at the uni..we were taught of nothing that had practical implications..bookish courses and emphasis on getting assignments done and memorizing entire chapters for exams got us good marks but at the end what did we achieve...may be it helped us to become part of the society where short cuts are preferred...i rem that my lecturers didnt even notice that most of us were copy pasting the entire assignments off the net..those who did try to be creative ended in getting lower marks..the uni is a good of demoralization and demotivation for sure..
ReplyDeleteSo true.
ReplyDeleteDespite being one of the largest institutions of the country, University of Karachi is not counted among the best universities. Students of KU are prefered when they step in professional field, i know a girl who applied at Express Tribune but they didnt even look at her CV but also said "KU ke students ki CVs mat laya karo". Reservations over competency level?
There are 2 factors that have never let KU rise: 1. Sarkari naukri approach and 2. Politics.
Management, employees and even the teachers work as they're working in Civic centre or sindh secretariat. Next is politics that never let any development or recreation happen in the campus. The chairpersons and teachers who enjoy the seat on political support seem political agents more than government servants.
Anyway, this is just one side of KU, i just love the other one :) Golden time we make here.
Yesterday I was at the airport receiving my brother who came back after completing his studies. Having lived in a developed European country myself, I remember how much they used to value their own heritage, trying hard to maintain the condition of their old buildings and places. This blog has made me realize that the all employees of Karachi University are trying to do the same; Trying hard to preserve the knowledge and facilities at the University at the same level when it was opened first. I believe its high time that people in Karachi should start a movement to handover University of Karachi to Department of Archeology and Museums, Sindh so that one of the greatest "has beens" in Karachi can be made a proud part of our Glorious History.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteas we enter the rotten gates of KU harsh reality comes to life...under subsidized university for those who cant really afford fat fees of private institutions..those that do not require government's mercy to raise funds for research and development..yeh we all know which ones im talking about the ones which have mercs and land cruisers parked outside and mommy daddy's straight out of bed kiddies come to study...but what about us the poor (may be for some invaluable creatures of the turmoil in this country) don't we deserve better..why we have to face the problems in not only the way we get our education at this uni but also when we come out of it holding degrees that are sold at a tag price of even rs. 25,000...why wont an employer send our cvs in the bin why waste time testing our skills out when we have a backdated stamp of KU!!!
ReplyDeleteDING DONG a creation of KU..im sure you didnt know that...who says KU can't compete!!!! you are all excuse makers for not doing good in ur studies and life...
ReplyDeleteone more thing those who haven't scored well in life stand in front of the mirror stop cursing one of the greatest assets that KARACHITES have...in fact curse yourself if you dont have what it requires to be successful...the uni is our asset and those who make it run are actually the honorary citizens of our country...are you feeling sarcastic tone??
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Ali for your criticism as in reply of my blog post. I am really glad to have criticism for my blog post where i have been receiving positive comments only. I would take your words as there is always another side to a picture. But it seems that negative side of the KU picture is overweighting the good side. One evident fact is that University of Karachi had been the only university from where most of the top pass outs were getting higher positions in renowned organizations but that was about years ago. The standard of education is changing and now we need to transform to a technologically advanced university. There are many teachers who are teaching at their best but then all course teachers need to contribute as most of the disciplines are interrelated.
ReplyDeleteIf you just notice the comment before your comment, you will meet Mr. Jibran T. Siddiqui who had done his bachelors from the same university. He had been a very good student and made sure to avail every opportunity to imply his talent. Mr. Jibran is widely famous for his contribution to Youth Platform took place in Japan. A student like him still complains about the university status-quo. So it could not be said that students are making excuses here.
University of Karachi is for sure an asset to Karachi and also to this country but a university is constructed to become a contributing institution to the society and not to become an asset only. I would thank the honorary citizens who have been trying their level best to run this institution but then i would suggest that they give their assistance designations to the new generation so that both generations can work together and come up with new strategies to run KU institution.
Felt your sarcastic tone and you have been appreciated.
Regards,
Saman Athar
(Author of Blog Post: Re-Defining KU as people think about it)
Thanks to the following people for contributing to my blog post with precious words and time to read. Your comments have encouraged me. The additional views seemed to be perfect words. It seems the more i will ask people about their views about University of Karachi, the more i will get details to add in the definition that i have posted above. The views are positive and negative as well.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mohammad Omer
Mr. Jibran T. Siddiqui
Mr. Digimanpk (Umair)
Mr. Trump
Hi Ali,
ReplyDeleteYour comments make me laugh maybe your not reading it right.. none of us our saying KU should shut down all we are saying is that its a great facility which is not being utilized to its best. do you remember how it was like in school? teachers used to write our english essays we used to learn them and write the same in our papers.. without using our heads and intelligence God has given us in any constructive manner we used to get "A" scores in the end. we crossed our twelve years hoping when we will go to university it will become better. but guess what? i landed in KU where teachers dont write the essays because wikipedia has made their jobs easier.. the main objective of a university is to develop the skill of the students so they become more productive in professional life warna tou professionalism may dhakay kha ker tou har koye hy seekh leta hay .. journalism and mass communication is all about expressing creativity through words but is KU (despite the fact that it has all the resources) helping in polishing this unique creativity? or are the students still forced to learn with in the traditional lines where you just learn write and pass or copy paste and pass ? visualize yourself and you ll know..
appreciate the critical analysis.. and though not being part of KU i cant say much. but i was wondering while reading the post that why is it always about the degree, the best job, career.. Why not a place of personality development n self grooming.. so to me KU is one of the best available platform.. despite all the mentioned other side of the picture things by saman athar :) . . being a student of KU is a life experience.. you experience all the sweet and bitter aspects of life..
ReplyDeletenow if i talk more particularly, i personally can talk about one dept only.. that is Visual studies.. (u know the reason lol) so as much as i know KU visual studies has one of the best faculty among all the art schools of Karachi.. there graduates are hired ;largely in the industry..
so i disagree with the blog partially.. all the points you mentioned are true and valid.. but not Vital.. :)
I am from Lahore,have no relation to KU,and I do not believe in bitching or complaining,I am a drop out not a quitter,still working in the same field,and quite successful at it; I left my college because I did not agree with they way my college was back then,very similar to your views,so if u have the guts leave college.and start new.
ReplyDeletebitter truth....!!!! but thats the reality...!!!! our education system is going down in drains day by day ..... n KU has lost its booom and quality completely...Nice constructive criticism from u guys...!!! n now its high time for u ppl to rollup ur sleeves work out for some positivities for KU'S improvement :)))
ReplyDeletefinally glad to meet somebody who had the guts to drop out of school apart from me and not think they were wrong haha..
ReplyDeletesolutions? id say no to plagiarism for starters !
Dropping out of school and colleges is the last thing this country needs. It may work out for a few but everyone is not the same. As far as KU is concerned, its time to get out of our happy bubble and realize that it is not as good as people like ali believe it is. Say, I do my Masters from KU and go abroad, do you think I will be able to compete with the students there and present a thesis just as good as theirs?
ReplyDeleteyour point is correct but I think it is up to the student itself either to pass by fooling the teacher for the sake of a mere piece of paper called "degree" or to work hard for the long term investment called "intellect"...And it is not only Ku but throughout the country we pakistani's are looking for shortcuts to get in to the work force for the sake of money and not to become achievers , and for sure plagiarism has become so common all thanks to wikipedia for establishing a wiki culture.AS far as the standard of other universities you mentioned are concerned , so that is completely based upon the societal stratification and not merit or standard.Ku is the public sector university whose degree is accepted abroad to rest depends upon the personal intellect.
ReplyDeleteHey namesake :)
ReplyDeleteI am not an authority to comment on this specific subject you have written because I graduated from Punjab University and I know nothing about KU :) I am here because of 'you'.
Youth is happy because it has the ability
to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows
old. - Franz Kafka
♥
Love ya and best of Luck babes
i guess you are right to some extent....you have highlighted the feelings and opinions most people have about KU, but we both know everything said is not true. Yes there are problems with the system and the management is not as good as it should be, plus the politics, strikes, the rigid and unjust attitude of some course administrators and the funds problem. But at the same time it is one of the very few post-secondary institutions in Pakistan that offer courses like IR, Mass Communications, Visual Studies, Mathematics and English to name a few.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason Pakistani firms don't really think of KU as a good place or an “up to the standard institution” ...but it is one of the few Pakistani universities recognized abroad.
Your blog should be read by the whole KU management because if they don't change their messed up ways they will further damage the future of students....
...and please KU administrators don't shutdown departments and say that they never existed.
a very well written blog...keep up the good work.
Very true.........K.U, being one of the biggest universities of Pakistan must be given an extra importance by the concerned authorities coz at times, it's so sad to see corruption of different levels prevailing in educational institutions........Otherwise if u have potential, it doesn't matter whether u are a student of K.U or any other institution.........
ReplyDeletewell all i can say is that the real essence of the university is lacking from this university...in fact i think some departments don't even come under the category of university..university needs to have few important things going in every department...one of them is research...and i wonder if mass communication department has got any authentic research going on that spreads over months and is well organized and supervised by the big guns of the department..character grooming right!!! this is really a character grooming university...turning humans into irresponsible and misbehaved citizens of the country...every year thousands of students march out and if this university was really character grooming institution in a good way then we could have some responsible citizens in the city but if you see every where it is chaos..
ReplyDelete