The annual convocation ceremony of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) was held on IBA main campus on Saturday. Sindh Governor, Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, who is also the Chancellor of the university was the chief guest on the occasion.
Addressing the event the Governor said, 'It is the beginning of a period when learning is tested and applied to the changing needs of life and the corporate world.'
Further, 'It is the time to leave the days of romantic idealism and starry notions behind and to embrace the lived world of harsh realities that lie ahead with a creative confidence and hopeful commitment to transmute it into an idealised world of realistic dreams,' he said.
The Governor also said that academic institutions do not survive on past achievements and glories alone and thrive on their vision of the future. 'Emerging world order, change with the rapid globalisation, rise of the European Union and other regional alliances and the impact of World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the world economy have contributed to making the world a more complex and unstable place to live in,' he said.
In addition, he suggested reading history with a view to learning from the past, not by living in the past. Taking about education he said, all the vested interests, such as the feudal class and the force opposing progress of Pakistan, had combined to ensure that education should remain a low priority.
The Governor further said, challenges is to make our educational institutions, centre of excellence with high standards of teaching and a culture of sustained learning. 'We are still a developing nation, struggling with the problems of poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy and diseases,' he added.
The chief guest also said that the new era certainly needs competitive pool of talent who would have ethics and morality, humanism and empathy as the defining features of their personality. He said, 'Indeed it is gratifying to note that the IBA has vigorously embarked upon a new era of growth, expansion and rise in tune with the changing needs of the time.'
'A large share of credit goes to its management, which appears to have realised the importance of an ongoing dialogue and interaction between the academia industry and the society,' he said. Speaking on the occasion, the Director, IBA, Dr Ishrat Husain said that market for the IBA graduates, is extended to the region adding that the demand of IBA graduate is growing on each passing day in Middle East and Central Asia.
The Middle East market would require 20 to 30 thousand managers per year over the next ten years. While, foreign companies in Pakistan would also require global level managers, therefore, certain things would to be done differently, he said. Giving details of different ongoing development projects, he said that the board and Higher Education Commission (HEC) have approved several projects.
These projects include building of accommodation office on main campus, alteration and refurbishment of the both existing administration blocks, establishment Centre for entrepreneurship development, expansion of server room on both campus and external development of main campus. The IBA Director also said the institute has decided to launch a tenure track system following HEC's approved schemes, revise the compensation structure, offer faculty positions to IBA's position holder graduates during the past eight years, offer appointment to PhD final year overseas candidates, create a new category of faculty in practice drawn from corporate sector, invite faculty members from leading universities of the world and offer full funding to those studying PhD in top 50 universities of the world.
He also announced a new programme of MBA in Banking and Financial Serving beginning fall semester 2009. He said that this programme is aimed at the middle level managers of financial institutions, who would eventually take over leadership positions in our financial serving industry.
The IBA Director also said that the institute is facing difficulties in executing this strategy as HEC funding both for recurrent and capital expenditure has almost died up and is unlikely to be available at the same level as in the past.
Dt Ishrat further stated, 'We have turn to parent alumni and private sector for mobilising the required resources. There is no alternative but to raise tuition fees in the coming year. However, we have to ensure that the poor and needy students are provided with full funding to complete their studies at the IBA,' he said.
Further, he requested private sector to take care of the institution that is producing high quality professionals and manager for the industry as part of their corporate social responsibility.