The International Relations Program of DHA Suffa University organized first One-Day International Conference (hybrid mode) to discuss Russia Ukraine Crisis and changing geopolitical situations. Speakers from Pakistan, Russia and Germany participated through their lectures, whereas, students and faculty from various universities in Karachi attended the session.
Dr. Markus Markert, Co-Founder ‘Anglo-German Education Ltd’ and a PhD in the field of International Relations from Oxford University paid a visit to DSU’s IERC (Intl Education Resource Center) on 11th-March-2022 and also had a courtesy call on DSU’s Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellor. During the meeting, various matters of mutual academic interest, the implementation of DSU’s existing MoU with SRH University Germany, and the possibility of Dr. Marcus having interactive sessions with DSU’s students and faculty were discussed. In line with the mission of DSU’s International Office, to facilitate interaction of DSU’s students with foreign experts and faculty, facilitating them to have a holistic and wholesome academic experience during their studies at DSU & embark on international career paths after graduating from DSU, interactive mentoring sessions and guest speaker sessions for students were agreed upon in the highly fruitful meeting between Dr. Marcus and DSU’s top-tier management.
DSU aims to provide opportunities to its students to access latest literary and research-oriented resources. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between DHA Suffa University and Captain Waseem Uddin Razi (Shaheed) Library (CWRSL) Phase II, DHA, Karachi is formerly known as DHA Central Library. The purpose is to strengthen student-book bond and to inculcate book reading habit among students. The library is equipped with over 80,000 books on multiple subjects.
The MoU was signed by Brig. (Retd.) Prof. Dr. Ahmed Saeed Minhas, Pro-Vice Chancellor, DSU, and Ms. Ayesha Chaudhary Secretary, CWRSL, to create strategic alliance and seamless linkages among both the libraries to cooperate in areas of learning and research development as well as to facilitate students of DHA Suffa University to get membership of CWRSL for borrowing books and other reading material.
The ceremony was graced by the following officers: Brig (Retd). Dr. Muhammad Asif Iqbal SI(M), Registrar DSU, Major (Retd.) Tahir Malik Deputy Director (CWRSL) , Engr. Dr. Syed Rizwan ul Hasan, Asst. Professor CS, Col. (Retd) Umar Sadiq, Controller of Examinations and Abdul Qadeer Assistant Librarian.
DHA Suffa University (DSU) always strives to provide an optimal learning & knowledge sharing experience for students. This is achieved by many ways including providing industry exposure coupled with the classroom learning. By maximizing industry engagement for students, they can not only enjoy a better learning experience but at the same time they get an opportunity to acquire industry adeptness as well. This way the students gain industry-relevant knowledge along with theoretical classroom learning. Such experiences make their adaptability in their relevant industry easier and at the same time, the employer also gets an industry-ready employee.
In this regard during Fall2021 a course titled “Social Media Marketing” was offered to the students of the Computer Science (CS) department. For this course the CS department at DSU collaborated with a digital agency, “Digital Eggheads” (DE). This collaboration was purely for academic purposes to help students in their learning by sharing industry best practices with them.
Under this collaboration two senior members Mr. Safeer E Hussain, Co-Founder & Director Operations, DE and Zainab Abdul Rehman, Head of Strategy, DE engaged throughout the semester and helped in:
The semester teaching was carried out by applying “Project based – learning by doing” methodology. Students were divided into teams and each team was asked to find an organization that had zero or very little presence on social media but at the same time had a strong need to grow their social media marketing. The teams had to apply the classroom learning to develop social media marketing strategy for their selected organization and also implement the strategy. The teams served as Social Media Consultants for their selected organizations. This was a guided project where constant guidance and monitoring was provided by the faculty at DSU, Ms. Eram Abbasi along with Mr. Safeer and Ms. Zainab from DE.
This teaching methodology with industry engagement provided the students a fun learning experience as they enjoyed implementing the theory concepts into practical work. They experienced rich learning situations which included enjoying success and coping with failures, communicating with clients and satisfying their requirements, working in teams, team building and dealing with team conflicts, handling customer queries and satisfying their needs, and many more. They even experienced situations which they never thought of while going through the classroom learning until they experienced it themselves.
One of the team members presented her experience as; “Overall it was a nice exposure of working with the corporate sector. With all other learning one important lesson that we learned from this project was that we should not trust verbal conversation. It is really necessary to document each and every verbal commitments to avoid conflict ahead”
While sharing his experience another student says “The project gave us exposure as to how a social media strategy is developed in real world. Many lessons learned, like; how important is the customer persona in strategy development. The success or failure of a good strategy very much depends on identifying the right customer persona. Another important lesson we experienced was that one should be confident when being creative. One should think out of the box, be creative and step ahead. Nothing will then stop you”
A student shared his experience this way. “The Social Media Marketing course was very informative and fun to study. Thanks to the trainers/faculty for teaching us this course in a very friendly environment. The project work really boosted our confidence. The course helped us to develop confidence to step forward and present your ideas in front of externals”
Another experience shared was; “It was a great learning experience, the course, the project and the corporate experience. It helped us understand how things actually work in the corporate world. Gave us experience on how to make our thought process clear. We actually felt improvement in ourselves”
Hence, the semester ended with a rich learning and knowledge sharing experience for the students. Thanks to “Digital Eggheads” for providing such memorable learning experience for the CS students DSU.
DSU’s IERC (International Education Resource Center) in collaboration with ‘EdTours’ organized an academic counselling session for DSU’s final year students in DSU’s ELT (Executive Lecture Theatre) on 21st Feb 2022, where they met face-to-face with representatives from ‘University of Colorado Boulder USA’ and ‘University of Houston-Victoria USA’. During this counselling session DSU’s students sought guidance from US University representatives regarding various opportunities to study abroad in USA and the associated costs and application procedures. The US University representatives from University of Colorado and University of Houston-Victoria answered student queries regarding degree programs of their interest and during the session a representative from USEFP (United States Education Foundation of Pakistan) was also present to interact with students and apprise them of various scholarship opportunities to study in USA.
On 15th February 2022, Mr. Zahid Hussain (Director QEC, DHA Suffa University) conducted an interactive training session on the preparation of SARs for the MS / PhD program teams of Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Management Sciences departments in order to equip them with the necessary knowledge to participate in their respective programs’ upcoming self-assessment reviews. The session focused primarily on the importance of program self-assessment, not only as a foundation for a meaningful review of the strengths and weaknesses of the program, but also as a means to achieving continuous quality improvement as per guidelines of the HEC.
Mr. Zahid Hussain discussed the objectives, benefits and desired outcomes of self-assessment and explained the self-assessment process in detail. He highlighted the need for academic programs to take concrete actions to remedy areas for improvement identified through the self-assessment process. The program teams were apprised of the criteria and standards for self-assessment as per HEC’s self-assessment manual. Mr. Zahid Hussain also discussed feedback and survey forms and emphasized the need for departments to obtain and maintain a proper record of various surveys, particularly the employer surveys.
An industrial trip to Orient Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd. was arranged for the students of semester VII-B students enrolled in the Maintenance Engineering course of the Mechanical Engineering Department on Tuesday, February 08, 2022. Under the supervision of Engr. Safa Sattar, the students visited Orient Energy Systems Pvt. Ltd where they were able to observe the Maintenance, OEMs and the Health and Safety protocols practiced by the industry. A company representative guided the students through the whole process of overhauling, replacements, repairing and testing of the machinery. The trip was a great learning opportunity for students as it helped students relate many concepts studied in the classroom to real settings.
An industrial trip to Hussein Engineering Pvt. Ltd. was arranged for the students of semester V students who studied the Manufacturing Engineering course of the Mechanical Engineering Department on Friday, February 04, 2022. Under the supervision of Engr. Adeel Asghar, the students visited Hussein Engineering Pvt. Ltd. where they were able to observe the Manufacturing Processes. A company representative guided the students through the whole process of melting, casting and all the further finishing operations that are done to get the final part. The trip was a great learning opportunity for students as it helped students relate many concepts studied in the classroom to real settings.
The Faculty and students of International Relations attended Kashmir Solidarity Day program “Mukalma” on PTV. The show was hosted by renowned IR analyst, author and political commentator Dr. Huma Baqai, whereas, the ambassador to USA Asad Majeed Khan, former PM Azad Kashmir Sardar Atique, Hurriyat leader Mishal Malik and Chairman World Kashmir Conference Haji Rafique Pardesi expressed their valuable views and concerns over the issue of Kashmir and the changing dynamics of Pak- China- US relations.
Program Manager IR Ms. Sidra Ahmed introduced BS IR program of DHA Suffa University to PTV audience, and the students asked some very important questions to the panelists. Appearing on state television proved as a meaningful experience to the students of IR Department, DHA Suffa University Karachi
