TAXILA: The University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Taxila will be introducing six new academic disciplines, as well as increasing the enrolment rate by almost one hundred percent, in undergraduate up to PhD programs.

UET Taxila Vice Chancellor (VC) Professor Dr Mohammad Abbas Chaudhry said that in order to promote and strengthen the research atmosphere, as many as six new disciplines in postgraduate studies, including Energy Engineering, Materials Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Applied Physics, Mathematics and Computer Sciences will be introduced in the upcoming academic session this year.

Dr Abbas said that the admissions in undergraduate programs will almost be doubled from 737 to 1410 students in the upcoming year, adding that the enrolment in the undergraduate program will be increased to 6500 students gradually during the next three years. Enrolment in MS and PhD programs will be enhanced from 225 scholars to 660 scholars in the upcoming academic session.

According to the VC, as many as 270 students will be enrolled in undergraduate programs in new disciplines introduced in 2014, including metallurgy and materials engineering, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, City and Regional Planning, Computer and Management Sciences.

Dr Abbas said that UET has been put on the path of modernisation, excellence in engineering research and making market-oriented engineers which are especially in high demand by the industry these days.

When asked about financial assistance to the students at UET Taxila, the VC said that masters level students are given a tuition waiver, Rs15,000 per month stipend for 18 months and a research grant up to Rs500,000.

He added that full-time PhD students get a full tuition waiver, Rs50,000 per month stipend for 36 months and a research grant up to Rs1 million, and that UET also provides a 100 percent tuition waiver and need based scholarships to students of various disciplines who cannot afford to pay the tuition, so that not a single student is deprived of education due to lack of financial resources.

Dr Abbas said that to provide better education facilities and development projects, including strengthening of the laboratories and infrastructure, UET is spending Rs870 million during 2013-15, while it has plans to further develop its infrastructure with an estimated cost of Rs950 million.

He said that new academic blocks will be constructed for newly introduced disciplines with an estimated cost of Rs500 million and UET will continue its efforts to enhance its infrastructure and construct similar academic buildings to meet the demands of the university during the years 2015 and 2016.

Dr Abbas said that during the next fiscal year another hostel building will be completed at UET Taxila and a similar building will be constructed for the UET sub-campus in Chakwal to cater to the boarding needs of extra enrolled students.

He added that Rs480 million will be spent on the upgradation, improvement and enhancement of facilities and on developing laboratories so that students can have a better environment for research.

The academic linkages with small, medium and large manufacturing firms, Research and Development (R&D) organisations and world class international universities have been established to accelerate the relevance of modern engineering education and new inventions in different fields of engineering.

The vice chancellor also said that UET will try to promote the mini-industry and that the business and commercial elite will be invited to interact with students and the academia on campus.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2014