National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
| National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences - FAST | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Motto | Who has taught (writing) by the Pen, has taught Man that which He Knew Not. |
| Established | 1 July 2000[1] |
| Type | Private |
| Chancellor | Senator Wasim Sajjad[2] |
| Rector | Dr. Amir Muhammed[3] |
| Students | Over 6,000[4] |
| Location | Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Campus | Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Faisalabad |
| Nickname | Fastians |
| Affiliations | Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Engineering Council |
| Website | http://www.nu.edu.pk/ |
The National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES or FAST-NU) with headquarters at Islamabad and campuses at Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Faisalabad is one of the leading technical universities in Pakistan. The university offers undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Business Administration, and Mathematics.
Its history dates back to 1985 when the Foundation for Advancement of Science and Technology set up institutes for computer science in the cities of Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan. Later on campuses were set up in the capital city of Pakistan] (Islamabad), Peshawar and Faisalabad also. The National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences received its charter in 2000 in the Federal Area (capital). It became the first multi-campus university of Pakistan with campuses in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore.
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Departments [edit]
The university has four departments in each of its campuses. These are:
- Department of Electrical Engineering
- Department of Civil Engineering (Lahore Campus)
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Management Sciences
- Department of Humanities and Sciences
Campuses [edit]
The university has campuses at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Faisalabad.
Karachi campus [edit]
The Karachi campus is divided into the Main campus and City campus. The Karachi Main campus is spread over a 9-acre (36,000 m2) site. It has separate buildings for the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering degrees. It is located in Shah Latif Town on National Highway, 10 km east of Karachi airport. The staff and students commute to the campus in transport arranged by a private contractor. The campus comprises classrooms, laboratories, auditorium, seminar rooms, and a library.
The Engineering labs comprise Electronics, Electrical, Control Engineering, Electromechanical System, Power Electronics, Instrumentation & measurement, Engineering Workshop, Signal Processing, Telecommunications, Microwave & antenna, PLC, Networking, Multimedia and Computer Labs.
The Computing Labs have computers and workstations having Linux and Windows-based environments. The campus is networked and provides wireless hotspots.
The Student Activities block includes a cafeteria, sports complex for indoor games and a gymnasium. In addition to a mosque, there are playgrounds for cricket, football, basketball, badminton and volleyball.
A fleet of twenty buses is available for students and staff to commute to and from the campus from the city. Separate hostel facilities for boys and girls are available via arranged University housing in the nearby Gulshan-e-Hadeed, and in locations in main Karachi City.
To supplement the academic activities of the main campus, there is a City campus on main Shahrae-Faisal (near the nursery) which houses the Business School and School for Graduate Studies. The purpose-built city campus has classrooms, computing labs and a canteen. The library of the city campus is linked with the library of the main campus. A Seminar Hall with a seating capacity of 175 is available for seminars, lectures and functions.
In addition to the university sponsored financial assistance and scholarships, Karachi campus receives scholarships for meritorious students under the Sindh Endowment Board by the Education and Literacy Department of the Government of Sindh at both undergraduate and graduate levels of studies. The scholarship has a separate quota for Urban and Rural students. At present, more than 200 students of Karachi campus receive scholarships under the Sindh Endowment Board Scheme.
Each faculty member is a part of a Research Group. Weekly research seminars, local IEEE, ACM and IET chapters’ meetings and seminars and an annual International conference are held.
The university is the first multi-campus private sector university set up under the Federal Charter granted by Ordinance No.XXIII of 2000, dated 1 July 2000. The university started with three computer science institutes located at Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.
Departments [edit]
The university has four departments, These are: Main campus:
- Department of Electrical Engineering
- Department of Computer Science
- Department of Humanities and Sciences
City campus:
- Department of Management Sciences
Degree programs [edit]
The Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar campus offers the following degree programs:
- Bachelor of Science
- Electrical Engineering with specialization in Telecommunication, Electronics and Computer (new program from 2009)
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Sciences
- BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration)
- Bachelor of Accounting Finance
- Master of Science
- Computer Science
- Computer Networking (Karachi Campus)
- Electrical Engineering
- Software Project Management
- Mathematics
- MBA (Master of Business Administration)
- PhD
- Computer Science
- Mathematics
- Electrical Engineering
PEC accreditation [edit]
Electrical Engineering programs of all campuses are accredited by the Pakistan Engineering Council.[5]
Festivals [edit]
NASCON (Islamabad) [edit]
NaSCon is a flagship event of FAST-NU’s social calendar. Its 12th edition kicks off at the Islamabad Campus from 26 April 2013. The aim of this event is to serve as a practical platform for developing business and technology solutions and supporting a sustainable society. NaScon’s past editions have seen four to five thousand people, representing over 150 universities and colleges nationwide, compete across an array of events and this year more people are expected to be part of NaScon with whopping 33 events.
NaScon has garnered significant recognition in the past decade and has been exclusively covered and broadcasted by some of the leading newspapers, radio stations and TV channels of Pakistan including GEO TV, ARY, ATV, Express News,FM 89, FM91 and FM 101.
The theme of NaScon ’13 revolves around environmental, social and economic sustainability. Almost anything that we do in this modern day & age can have substantial repercussions on the environment and we at NaScon’13 are promoting awareness about the importance of this issue among youth of this country, encouraging minds to devise solutions that not only improve the environment but help preserve our future. Spreading awareness about the soon-to-be-held Elections also forms this year’s event’s primary objectives. It aims to inculcate a feeling of responsibility in the participants as they would form the backbone of our country in the near future.
NaScon ‘13 will be hosting a total of 33 events which would range from Battle of Bots to the Battle of Bands, participants locking horns in software wars, engineering problem solving, Prog-a-Thon, Interface-a-Thon, Circuit Mania, Extreme Gaming, making robots sprint to victory in Robo Sprint and earn the glory in Robo Soccer. Engineering competitions would also include developing application for Android in App Shapp and engineering Project Exhibition.
Pakistan’s brightest business minds will be required to come up with the best Business and Marketing Plans and Case Simulations, discussing Islamic Finance and picking the Ideal Candidate.
NaScon isn’t limited to just technology and business solutions. Other exciting events enlivening this year’s event are Futsal Frenzy, Cricket Master Blaster, Mind Wrestle, Little Artists, Chess, Volleyball and B-Ball Showdown. T-Draw and Math Mania.
Girls will also compete in the Futsal, Volleyball and Basketball competitions. NaScon's media partners and sponsors this year include Osaf, Microsoft and Air Blue The total prize money on offer for NaScon ‘13 is Rs. 500,000.
SOFTEC (Lahore) [edit]
SOFTEC (SOFTware Exhibition and Competition) is a software competitions in Pakistan. SOFTEC is organized every year at the Lahore campus of NUCES. It comprises a software competition and programming contest with the collaboration of ACMs[6] NUCES Chapter, Engineering Project Competition with the collaboration of NCS (NUCES Circuit Society), Micro Controller Interfacing Competition in collaboration with NUCES Circuit Society, G3n.x gaming competition, Ideas Xtreme (where students from Grade School display their ideas), G3n. X (Generation Xtreme) Gaming Competition and book festival.
The 6th International and 16th National SOFTEC was held on 9–10 April 2011.
NUTEC (Peshawar) [edit]
NUTEC, National University Technology Competition, is an annual event at the university in Peshawar. Competitions are held in the event such as Engineering Quiz, Gaming, Programming and exhibitions are also held in engineering and software.
Marketing Mavericks (Islamabad) [edit]
This is a marketing event held biannually at the Islamabad campus., "Marketing Mavericks" unites business students, professionals, entrepreneurs, consultants and academicians to debate on marketing issues, trends and opportunities in Pakistan. The winning group of the event is awarded the trophy, "The Jolly Marketer" and the best performer of the event is awarded with "The Green Jacket" and "Marketing Mavericks Medal of Honour". Awards are distributed to organizations in the areas of Service Quality Excellence and Marketing Innovation. The event is sponsored by corporations, local and multinational.
Student organizations [edit]
FCS (Fast Computing Society) by FAST Islamabad Campus [edit]
Fast Computing Society (FCS) started working in November 2011 to help students of computer science polish their skills, show their abilities and to take part in competitions in the university as well as outside the university in the computing field. The initiative was taken by the mentors of FCS, Dr. Uzair Khan and Dr. Waseem Shahzad, in establishing this society and since then FCS has been lead by the following students in their final year:
- Shumail Ibrar Javed - Batch '08
- Abdul Haseeb Khan - Batch '09
The society has been officially functional since 16 Jan 2012 and is divided into different clubs and committees, namely:
- Creative Committee
- Event Management Committee
- E- Gaming
- IT Competition Committee
- Community Service
- Publications
- FAST - BYTES
- Alumni Liaison
All the activities held under the CS Department of FAST - NU Islamabad are conducted under the umbrella of FCS.
BASF (Business Administration Students' Form) [edit]
The Business Administration Students' Forum provides improvement of students with their personal and professional development. It focuses on making students stay at university productive and memorable.
FES(Fast Engineering Society) [edit]
FAST Engineering Society is based at the Islamabad Campus. The society is helpful to the newcomers and any student who is interested in curricular activities like speed programming, speed wiring etc.
This student body consists of President, Faheem Iqbal Chaudhry , Vice President and General Secretary along with nine clubs'(mentioned below)Coordinators and vice coordinators:
- Adventure Club
- Aeromodelling Club
- Robotics Club
- Creative Club
- Event Management
- Engineering Competition Management
- Electronics Club
- E-Gaming
- IEEE Club
ACM Student Chapter [edit]
NUCES-ACM Student Chapter was established on 12 April 2001 by Junaid Haroon Siddiqui and Agha Adeel Saadat. The chapter advances the science of information processing. ACM Chapter is part of programming, software, gaming and quiz competitions organized in the university.
NUCES-ACM Student Chapter hosts international, national and local competitions in the fields of software project, software quiz, programming and gaming. It has received participants from most countries in the region, and from all major educational institutions in Pakistan.
NUCES-ACM organizes programming, software, quiz and gaming competitions, short courses, workshops and seminars for the students of the university throughout the year. The Chapter is responsible for sponsoring and organizing all student trips to other educational institutions in the country and abroad. There are 200 registered members of the society.
ACM is divided into teams like Development, Content (Editorial), Web development, Event management etc. ACM is a proud organizer of well known competitions The Coders Cup and PROCOM etc.
IEEE Student Branch [edit]
The IEEE Student Branch is an IEEE student entity, under which the university can organize seminars, conferences, congresses, lectures and invited talks of professionals, academicians and researchers. Three independent IEEE Student Branches exist in its three campuses - Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. IEEE NUCES-Karachi organized IEEE PSC 2007 on 6–7 July 2007, ProCom.Net 2009 on 2 May 2009 and number of seminars and workshops. They also participated in IEEE PSC 2008 on 16–17 August 2008, IEEE KSSC 2008 on 26 December 2008, IEEE PSC 2009 at IEEE SEECS, NUST, Islamabad during 29–31 May 2009 and IEEE PSC 2010 at Usman Institute of Technology, Karachi on 29–31 October 2010.
FASTRising [edit]
FASTRising is a group of people (students, faculty members and alumni) from FAST NU, Lahore who believe in the supremacy of law and the rule of meritocracy. They belong to diverse ideological and political backgrounds and have collaborated to form this platform to:
- Strive for the restoration of the constitution as it was in the early hours of 3 Nov 2007
- Raise the level of political awareness of the FAST-NU family members (students, faculty members and alumni)
NFT-NUCES Fun Trekkers (Lahore) [edit]
NFT – NUCES Fun Trekkers is the most popular non-technical and the only adventurous society at National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST-NU), Lahore. Since its origination in 1998, it’s been arranging different trips and adventurous activities with a mission of indulging students of FAST-NU in different adventurous activities, to help them in exploring colors of Pakistan, to give them an exposure of places which are beyond the borders and to get them to those places where they would hardly go ever in their lives or hardly visited them in past.
Annually, NFT activities range from a 2 week Adventurous Summer trip offering camping, trekking, jeep cruising, bonfires, jaunting and hiking in breathtaking environment of Northern Areas to the 1 week Winter trip including Camping, Rock Climbing, Ice-Skiing, Winter Hill Walking & Ice-Sliding in snow spiced areas of Pakistan. One-Day Trips to Archeological & Historical places, Hill Stations, Wildlife & National Parks, Forts, Lakes, Dams, and Caves of Pakistan in every semester are also a part of NFT’s jaunt set while luxurious 4 Day International trip to any of the developed country and 3 Day Girls Summer Trip recently became a part of this set.
Notable Alumni [edit]
- Atif M. Memon Associate Professor at University of Maryland . He has been top 50 software engineering[7]
- Mir Zafar Ali - first Pakistani to win Oscar Award
- Fawad Afzal Khan - Pakistani singer and Actor
- Farhan Saeed - Pakistani singer and owner of Cafe Rock
See also [edit]
- Foundation for Advancement of Science and Technology (FAST)
- FAST Institute of Computer Science
- Center for Research in Urdu Language Processing
References [edit]
- ^ "FAST-NU History". Official Website. NUCES. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- ^ "Officers of the University". Official Website. NUCES.
- ^ "Officers of the University". Official Website. NUCES. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- ^ "About FAST & NU". Official Website. NUCES. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Association of Computing Machinery
- ^ "Awards and Accomplishments".
External links [edit]
- Programming contests
- Engineering universities in Pakistan
- Universities and colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
- National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences
- Computer science institutes in Pakistan
- Universities and colleges in Lahore
- Universities and colleges in Punjab, Pakistan
- Universities and colleges in Pakistan
