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| India-Pakistan |
| NUML rector awarded himself a PhD degree |
| 2010-05-27 |
| [The News (Pak) Top Stories] The National University of Modern Languages (NUML) continues to remain in headlines as now a unique case has come to light, involving its Rector Brig (retd) Aziz Ahmad, who awarded a PhD degree to himself in his own university and his subordinate professors were his supervisors to approve his doctorate. This 2003 case has surfaced as the NUML is already facing embarrassment because a professor was beaten by a retired brigadier-registrar of the university and an enquiry committee predominantly composed of retired brigadiers then found the professor guilty. When The News contacted the NUML's rector, he confirmed being supervised internally and externally by his own subordinates and found no harm in doing this. "They were never under any pressure to favourably examine my work," he said. Asked how it feels that the head of an institution is a student in his own university and awarding himself a degree, the rector said it was done on merit. The doctorate of Brig (retd) Aziz was funded by the Army, and he had enrolled himself for PhD in the university, headed by himself. His external and internal examiner and those who convened defence were his subordinates. And when he finished his doctorate in 2003, it was Brig (retd) Aziz Ahmad, awarding and receiving degree to himself as his sheet carries his name twice being a candidate and the awarding authority. As the rector started work on doctorate in 1995, four years before the NUML was authorised to conduct PhD programmes, he completed research work from the Pakistan Futuristic Foundation Institute (PFFI), affiliated with American University of London (AUL), a phony institute that only exists on the internet website and is non-accredited. The AUL is among the HEC's list of universities that were declared "illegally operating in Pakistan". "The degrees from such institutions are not recognized by HEC. Parents are therefore cautioned not to send their children to these institutions as they may face subsequent problems in procurement of jobs etc," said an HEC announcement issued in August, 2007. By the time his research work was in progress through AUL-affiliated PFFI, Brig (retd) Aziz was head of the National Institute of Modern Languages (NIML), later upgraded as NUML in 2000, and he became its rector. Now, when the rector is a certified PhD, the whereabouts of his thesis have become a mystery. According to the rules, all the PhD thesis are made available in the HEC digital library and can be seen on Internet. When the rector was asked about the thesis, he denied it was missing and said it was in NUML's library. Asked why it has not been displayed in HEC's digital library, he said the library was set up long after he completed his doctorate. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Seemingly appears to be better than CHINA... To wit, CHINESE MIL FORUM > [Poll]MOST CHINESE BELIEVE CHINA HAS NO WORLD-CLASS UNIVERSITY. Approxi 75% of Respondents feel that UNiversity Admins, Staff + Educators + Board, are more MONEY/PROFIT-ORIENTED, + NOT TRULY DEDIC TO EDUCATION PROPER. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-05-27 01:32 |