ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: “I am quitting QAU,” announces the melancholic voice of a student, who has a world famous name: Saddam Hussein. Saddam is a resident of Khairpur, Sindh and had travelled with high hopes to Islamabad, in order to enroll in the BBA programme being offered by Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU).

But Saddam is not the only one quitting QAU, the numbers are growing and many students like Saddam are planning to quit the BBA programme.

According to university officials, about 38 per cent students (60 out of 160) of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) have already left the programme.

Three reasons are being forwarded by the students: a complicated credit hour system — which few understand — BBA degree being converted to BBS and a lack of residential facilities.

One student who like Saddam dropped out of the BBA programme said: “I did not want to waste my money because the management said that those students with less than 12 credit hours would not be promoted to the next semester. So I quit.”

The BBA programme was started in September, 2010 but students were informed in September 2012 that in order to get the degree, 12 credits were a minimum requirement.

“First semester started in 2010 but at the start of the fourth semester in September 2012, management announced the policy for BBA and said that 132 credit hours would be needed to get a BBA degree but students with less than 12 credit hours are not eligible for the next semester,” informed a student.

Another bombshell that was dropped on the students was that instead of a BBA degree they would now get a BBS degree.

As one student complained: “InNovember, the management of the university informed the students that even after completion of four years, students would still get a BBS certificate. Which is not acceptable for us because after two years of study or four years of study (in both cases) we would still get the degree of BBS,” complained a student.”

In the original programme, BBS was reserved for students who would quit after finishing two years of the course. But now two or four years, it doesn’t matter.

When contacted VC QAU Prof Dr Mohammad Masoom Yasinzai, said that the university had to follow the instructions of Council for Management Studies.

“It does not make any difference if BBA or BBS is written on the degree because students studied all the courses which were announced at the time of admission”, said the VC.

Housing and boarding is another issue.

“Rs72,000 is the fee for each semester but we were not allowed to get a room in the hostel. I tried to get a room in the hostel but the relevant officer told me that he cannot allot a room because the hostel is for the master level and PhD students,” a student informed.

While another student comparing the situation said: “On the other hand, per semester fee of the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) is Rs 90,000 but SZABIST is far better than QAU.”

All of this does not bode well for the university: “There were 160 students in the first semester but now there are less than 100 students because they were discouraged because of policies of the management.

Management should have announced the policy in the first semester,” informed the student with the world famous name: Saddam.

Saddam Hussein disappointed with the setup in Islamabad is now headed back to his hometown, Khairpur, in search of better academic options.