Educational TV channel being started by Peshawar University

PESHAWAR: A 12-day workshop started at the Bara Gali summer campus of the University of Peshawar Thursday to train the faculty members of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication for the educational television channel to be launched by the university in the near future.

Jointly organized by the University of Peshawar and Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW) broadcast organization, the workshop was formally inaugurated by vice-chancellor of the university Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan.

The vice-chancellor has been in Bara Gali for the last several days where he has been inaugurating and concluding different training sessions, workshops and seminars. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Dr Azmat Hayat said the German organisations had been very supportive of the UoP. They have helped the university to set up the campus radio stations, which is a success story, he added.

The vice chancellor said the step initiated by DW to train the faculty of UoP about documentary making was very good. He said this would serve to train the young producers and technicians in the upcoming educational television channel.

Floran Weigan, representative of DW said that opportunity for the children to attend school were very low here and those who go to school were unaware of the informal education, which was direly needed today.

The DW representative said by teaching innovative ways of documentary magazine programmes for children and youth, the kids would be able to pick things very easily and this would serve as an informal source of education. Floran Weigan added that there was no replacement of schools but the programmes would build the social framework of children in the form of infotainment.

Dean Faculty of Management and Information Sciences Prof Dr Shahjehan Syed said the television channel which the University of Peshawar was going to launch would not be on commercial basis. The channel, he added, would help students with distance learning in getting hands on lectures and infotainment programmes.

Source: http://pakstudy.com/web/node/2244

Japenese Scholarships for Pakistani Students

Sato International Scholarship Foundation, Japan

The Sato International Scholarship Foundation grants two types of scholarship for self-supporting students from ASEAN countries as well as Southwest Asian countries enrolled in a Japanese undergraduate or graduate institution:
1. Scholarship for Self-Supporting Students
2. Scholarship for Short-Term Exchange Students.

Students from the Following Countries are Eligible to Apply:

Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, Vietnam.
Scholarship for Self-Supporting Students
The applicant must be residing in Japan, enrolled in or accepted to a legitimate program. Please apply through the students’ office of your university.

Amount of Scholarship:

Undergraduate students: 120,000 yen/month

Graduate students: 180,000 yen/month

plus additional support to cover cost for attending conferences

Duration of Scholarship:2 years

Number of Scholarships Granted:Around 10 students will be accepted.

Eligibility:
The applicant must be a citizen from the aforesaid countries, who does not hold Japanese citizenship and must be enrolled in a Japanese undergraduate or graduate institution, under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

The applicant must also fulfill the following requirements:

Have interest in promoting international understanding and friendship, and is able to attend SISF meetings (meetings are held 6 times/year).Does not receive any sort of scholarship or funding from other parties.
Holds legal residence status as a college student.

Does not have a parent employed in Japan.

Is enrolled in a program with more than 1 year left until graduation/completion (from April 2011). This restriction does not apply to doctorate program.

Have good communication skill in Japanese.

Selection Process:

Selected by screening committee:

1. First round of selection: review of application form and documents
2. Second round of selection: interview

Deadline: Monday August 23, 2010

Further Information: http://sisf.or.jp/eng/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19&Itemid=36

http://www.tj.kyushu-u.ac.jp/international/files/SATO%20International%20Scholarship%20Foundation%20in%20English.doc

Study resumes as summer vacations end

Wake up: its time for school

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 Islamabad After spending a long time of leisure at homes, students are preparing themselves for a tough routine of classes as academic institutions, after a break of two moths are going to re-open in the first week of August. Usually what happens, during the summer vacation, students pass most of their time in playing games and visiting various places which besides giving them mental refreshment, makes them lazy too as they follow no routine at all during these vacations. But when they are over, they have to modify their schedule, which needs a cerebral effort. “It seems difficult to wake up early in the morning for class because sleeping till late has become my habit and it will take few days to become familiar again with the same old routine,” said Riaz Khan, a student of M.A at National University of Modern Languages (NUML). Zulfiqar Ishaq, a student of MBA, said that these were possibly his last vacations as he is studying in the last semester and next year he would be hopefully in professional field where such a long leave could not be had. “After remaining out-of-touch with books for two months, it becomes difficult to re-adjust mind for studying habit,” said Khalid Hussain, a student of MSc at International Islamic University (IIUI). Despite the fact that it is hard to re-adjust oneself with academic routine, there are many students who are overjoyed and eager to join their institutions again owing to boredom they had to go through during the long vacations. Ammar Barlas is such a student who said that he was missing his university friends and he wanted to do some sort of chill with them. “Life without college is like the Sun without light. I can bear hot weather but can’t be away from college life,” said Shahid Maqbool, a student of a Model College in Islamabad. Students of universities and colleges would adjust themselves sooner or later but the real challenge is for those parents whose children are studying in the Kinder Garden (KG). It is observed that this segment (children) is affected badly during long vacations as having spent most of their time at the maternal-side where they just play and have thrill, it becomes really difficult for the parents to send them back to their schools, once again. Shaeena Naz’ a housewife, said that during vacations, her children have completely changed as far as their habits are concerned and now she will have to tune their minds with sweet motivation to prepare them for studies. “I have to give incentives to my kids like new uniform, school bag, pens and much more for convincing them to go to school,” she added. No matter whether they are happy or otherwise, but all students will have to go back to their institutions because there is no escape from liabilities in life, — it is going to be ‘Wake up Sid- its time for school’ once more, for all of them.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=253067

IIUI employee gets US fellowship

Gets US fellowship

Islamabad—Muhammad Rizwan, Assistant Director (Network) Faculty of Engineering and Technology (FET) of the International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) was awarded fellowship for MS-Technology program in a leading university of US.

His areas of interests are Computer Networks and Technology Management. He is associated with International Islamic University since 1999.

During his association with International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI), he was awarded appreciation certificates with cash prizes as well as his services were recognized at high level and now he has been considered for Fellowship.

He is actively involved in establishing of FET laboratories and Information Technology infrastructure, PEC coordination and accreditation visits and organizing various events.—APP

Source: http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=43820

Words of Fullbright Scholar

As a former Fulbright Scholar (2007-09) from Pakistan I feel obliged to inform Pakistani students about one of the world's most prestigious Scholarship awards that has recently been announced in Pakistan for year 2011.

I just thought to put this information for all interested candidates in a very informal way. If you are not in rush, you can go through following information else if you prefer you can directly visit Fulbright USEFP website from here.

Million Dollar Question:
Ask yourself, What do I get out of this Scholarship?
The answer is pretty simple and attractive, yes indeed I must say, very attractive! You earn a Master, Ph.D. or both degree(s) from any University in the United States without requiring you to spend a single penny of yours, or should I be more specific and say 'A SINGLE PAISA of yours!'. It funds tuition, living stipend, airfare, health insurance and of course textbooks as well!


My Objective For Now:
As of now, my prime objective is to keep you updated on the latest announcement, but later I would try to share my 'personal' thoughts with regard to various questions as to what are the most important ingredients one should focus on in order to get hold of Fulbright Scholarship.


Scholarship Announcement by USEFP For Year 2011
The United States Education Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) had announced Master's and Ph.D. Scholarship Program for year 2011 almost like a month ago, generally it is announced around three months to the closing date. Closing date for year 2011 program is May 18, 2010'. Please visit for this year's program at Fulbright Scholarship for year 2011


I'm Interested, But How and Where to Start From:
1. Check your eligibility for the Scholarship Program.
2. If you meet the eligibility requirements, you should plan for GRE Exam and start preparing for it. Take a look into the availability of the GRE test dates at your local or nearby testing centers. USEFP has a special section on GRE/TOEFL on their website which gives you detailed information on the GRE Exam and the Testing Agency, namely Prometric Testing Center. Please visit:
GRE Exam for Fulbright Scholarship
3. Take your application VERY SERIOUSLY and start filling it out gradually and well in advance, cause it is not going to take just few days, rather weeks. Surprised? Yes, you should be, only if you are serious about it. There are reasons why you should take it seriously, cause this is the most important document which they grade and your chances of getting selected are heavily dependent upon how well you score in your APPLICATION, and the rest of top two factors include your Academics and GRE Score. I would shed some more light on these things in my later posts.

This is a great opportunity for all youngsters to attain Higher Education from world's top-notch schools in US! If you feel like going abroad on Scholarship, you must avail this chance, and later should think about contributing towards development of Pakistan.

For detailed information about USEFP's different scholarship programs please visit usefpakistan


Source: http://aastech.blogspot.com/2010/03/usefp-fulbright-scholarship-for-masters.html

Learning beyond text

IIM Faculty set to follow 3 Idiots
Sureshbala


The 3 Idiots has touched the people of IIM-A. Inspired by the movie, the faculty members at IIM-A are teaching students to learn about life from beyond the textbooks and curriculum in an elective course called ‘Learning What is Not Taught (LWNT)’. The course took off on Saturday.

Executive director of Tata Sons Ltd R Gopalakrishnan who is the lead instructor of LWNT said, “What the students learn in the classrooms is only the beginning of learning. The rest of the lessons are to be learnt from what life teaches them.”

He said that the early success in terms of earnings by young professionals creates a illusion that they have achieved a lot and better than their predecessors. It also results in over confidence. But life is not just being successful in terms job and money. It’s more than that. Using the clips from the movie, the students will be shown how the act of running after success brings failure.

The elective course will witness video recordings of lectures by personalities like Narayan Murthy, Arun Maira, Vijay Mallya and Rahul Bajaj who will speak about their life experiences through the videos and interactive sessions of various other visiting faculties.

The step taken by the leading Management Institute will definitely inspire the academic industry to follow the same suit.


Source: http://cat.learnhub.com/news/799-iim-faculty-set-to-follow-3-idiots

A Lady's courage

Disability couldn’t deter Zara from doing PhD!

Physical disability can be sidelined provided one has the will and determination. A brilliant example of this is the life and academic achievements of a deaf girl from Lahore who is doing PhD in special education from Johns Hopkins, a prestigious university in the USA.

In her message from USA, she said that she was thankful to God and everyone in her family, friends, professors and those who have been in her life for support and made things easier to her to excel in her studies. According to the data provided to this correspondent from her near and dear ones, Zara Hussain, a deaf but outstanding student, daughter of Iftikhar Hussain and Salma was born in Lahore in 1981.

When she was about a year old, her parents had discovered that she was deaf. It was not easy for them to accept this bitter reality, especially when Zara was their first child. They consulted many physicians to get her cured but to no avail. She was admitted to a school for primary education where she was only deaf child in her class and it was difficult for the teachers to treat her normally as they used to do so with other child students.

Zara did her high schooling from W.T. Woodson School (USA) where her father was posted in the Pakistani mission. She passed her high school with high grades and won ‘Role Model Award for American Deaf Children.’ She also learned CUED Speech, a system of communication used with and among deaf or hard of hearing people. She was also editor of the children magazine in her school at Virginia. She also wrote a guide for the deaf children studying at the American schools that was highly appreciated by the teachers and is now being used as a ‘Handbook for Deaf Children.’

When her family moved back to Pakistan, she got admission in Kinnaird College, Lahore, where she graduated with her major subjects including English Literature, Journalism and Psychology. After completing her bachelors, she got admission in the Punjab University and chose special education as her subject for masters. She topped all the four semesters and in recognition of her achievements former Punjab chief Minister Ch. Pervaiz Elahi awarded her a gold medal and cash prize worth Rs100,000.

Zara also represented Pakistan in ‘Annual Disability Conference 2004’ held in Washington DC. Despite resistance from the organizers, she displayed a stall through personal efforts, using only the ‘Punjab University, Pakistan’ as a label.

Though her mother wanted her to go for Information Technology or Computer Sciences but she got an HEC scholarship and went to the United States for doing her PhD in special education.

Her hobbies include socializing, especially with those people who work for the cause of special persons. Much of her time is utilized sitting on the computer and browsing the Internet and writing proposals for well-being of the deaf community.

She has a plan to set up an institute for the deaf community after completion of her PhD, initially in Islamabad and Lahore and then to spread its branches across the country with the aim to provide level playing field to help them shine in their areas of study and contribute effectively in the national development.

The academic achievements of this brave and talented young student needs attention of the government that must acknowledge and encourage such youths that can become a role model for many others in the society.


Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=223215