Islamia University Bahawalpur

IUB: The First Public Sector University to Offer a Paperless Online Admission Facility

Muhammad Zulqarnain Asab

campus-talks
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.

‘Civilizing’ Mission: Black Abaya Made Compulsory at Islamia University Bahawalpur

Islamia University Bahawalpur, the only public sector university of Bahawalpur and one of the oldest and largest in Pakistan, has recently made wearing the black abaya compulsory for its female students of MBA department. According to an official notification at the end of March, uniform was made compulsory which included abaya or black gown with black dopatta for female students. According to sources, the head of the respective department took this decision in an instant move after seeing a female student in an inappropriate dress. While head of the department was displeased with the dress of a certain student, other eye witnesses do not think that the dress in question was unusual and inappropriate as such.

Students’ reaction to this administrative move is mixed. Some favor it as a step to promote piety and morality while others see it as an excessive and regressive move to curtail basic freedoms. In any case this step must raise questions about the powers and role of administration. Is administration allowed to enforce dress code on adult students? Given the whimsical nature of the act, will such a precedent not lead to blur the line between what is justified and what is not?

(Published in The Laaltin – May 2013)