Institute of Management Sciences (IM|Sciences) Peshawar is a premier institute of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one of the leading business schools in the country. The University was formerly under the hands of Dr. Nasser Ali Khan who retired from the post of Director IMSciences Peshawar in January 2012.
Since January 2012, the Joint Director of IMSciences Peshawar - Dr.M. Mohsin Khan, is also working as Acting Director of the institute. This all seemed fair when the news was that a new Director will soon be taking the charge of IMSciences but it has been over 5 months now and no one is yet heading the institute. It`s worse coming to think of a leading institute of the province, declared as 7th best school for business studies by the HEC, operating without a head for nearly half a year now.
In this matter, students as usual, are the ones who suffer the most. Hundreds of students graduated before and after these 5 months but couldn't get their degrees solely because of the unavailability of a competent authority - the Director. Moreover, no information is available to the students as to whether or not the new director will be appointed or not, and if yes no time frame is yet shared. This has raised concerns & students who have graduated already are worried about when they'll be awarded their degrees.
Due to this highly concerned issue, not only the students have lost the opportunity of jumping in the practical field but some students, who were already employed, had to quit their jobs as they cannot continue work without showing the evidence of their education i.e. a degree certificate signed by the head of institution.
Muhammad Sulaiman, a recent graduate was offered a job in Kabul but due to this issue he was not able to get the degree on time and so he lost his job. Similarly another recent graduate Salman Khan who was working as a Logistics Assistant in the same city had to quit his job and come back home because the employers have sent him a notification of presenting the original degree certificate which he could not provide.
Similarly, a number of graduates who intended to go abroad for higher education or wanted to continue studies within the country could not get their admissions as they are lying pending because they have not yet acquired their degrees without which they are considered ineligible. With the passage of a single day the chances of getting enrolled in an institute by the end of current year keeps decreasing coupled with the fear of the wastage of another year. Shoaib Anwar, who recently completed his MBA degree from IMSciences, Peshawar is currently trying to get admission in foreign universities but before he can apply for any course, he has to provide his degree which he is yet to receive from the institute in the year not yet known. Shoaib approached the examination office of IMSciences Peshawar to inquire about the issuance of his degree and a possible solution to the problem and upon which he was informed that he was not the only one having such an issue but there are hundreds of other students as well.
Speaking to an official of the institute, he told us that "I would have resolved this issue if i was appointed as "Governor"".
Due to commonly used fake degrees employers & educational institutions demands original and verified documents. Ironically, once the degree is issued, the students have to go through HEC verification process as well to get their degrees acceptable for using them at study or workplace. This is even more funnier, HEC first accredits the institution to award degrees but still do not trust it unless they endorse the document with a mere stamp which one gets on his/her degree document after booking an appointment days before, paying a visit to Islamabad, queue up in huge lines and well off course nothing in this world is FREE, pay a certain fee. I wonder who'd endorse the credibility of HEC here. The government of Pakistan?
Issuing the degrees is not the only issue which is worth highlighting, the fact that the institute of this caliber fails to even arrange convocation to award degrees to students, even on a semi-annual basis. Four years of hard work at the business school followed by a hectic six months of delay in declaring us graduates without even arranging a convocation is purely something disrespectful, and well I will be honest, we come from families, who believe in what they actually see. Most parents won't even believe their kids graduated until or unless they attend the graduation in person, because if any of your relative`s child who went to a different business school in town can wear the graduation gear and throw the cap in air while his parents are served tea and snacks, than "aye, we deserve that too".
There are countless stories to be told in this regard but to cut it short it`s the appointment of a new Director or making the currently acting Director (Dr. Mohsin Khan) the Director of the Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar - the institute that preaches Management studies, the most important of all. Let this voice be heard, let the issue be noticed, and let the good folks in the able chairs do something about it.
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