Muhammad Zulqarnain Asab
The Islamia University Bahawalpur (IUB) has become the first Pakistani Public Sector University to offer a complete paperless admission facility for its Masters and Graduation programs at the beginning of this academic year. The University’s IT department has programed the web of IUB where the students after putting required information for admissions get an ID for further use until the last date of admissions. This online facility enables a student to apply for 9 various programs. After entering academic information and submitting application form the student can print the challan form and deposit the required fee.
“The IUB’s online admission is different from other public sector universities because students are not required to submit any printed document(s) for graduate and postgraduate admission unlike other universities demanding testimonials or documents for applying”, told Mr. Haroon Akhter, the web master of IUB.
Every applicant through his or her online account gets all the updates of the admission procedure, merit lists and the status of his or her application.
According to Mr. Haroon this procedure also eliminates the chances of fake, fraud or out of turn admissions because the staff of IUB has no personal connection to the applicant and cannot grant admissions to those who have not applied online. After the closing date, IT department provides the login passwords to each department for generating admissions and issuing semester fee challans.
The online admission facility is available for all campuses of IUB including those of Bahawalnagar & Rahim Yar Khan. The online admission system has enabled the university to maintain and update student database and academic records, said Mr. Ishaq, Assistant Registrar of IUB. The university is also planning to initiate email and text messaging facility for students to stay updated about the admissions.
Students have appreciated this as a step in the right direction. It could be followed by further IT facilitation both for students and administration.