AOA, everyone
It is with great pleasure that I welcome our new batch of students to the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology Dubai for the Spring 2015 orientation ceremony.
To those embarking on university life for the first time – I do envy you! It is certainly an era to cherish both socially and academically.
I took an interest in the affairs at SZABIST Dubai in February 2008. It was only a month after I turned 18. I did not know what it would entail but it is truly a matter a pride for me to have seen it grow from the hallway of Knowledge Village to where we are all seated here today.
The importance of education was always emphasized in our household, My mother equated education to true wealth and empowerment, often reminding my siblings and I how ‘Everything can be taken away from you – apart from your education’.
Established in 1995, SZABIST was a tribute to her father SZAB. The vision behind SZABIST was to provide a platform, to help arm our students with the knowledge and facilities they need to contribute to a better more prosperous Pakistan.
As an organization SZABIST has certainly come a-long-way since, with Montessori, junior and intermediate schools in Larkana and Mirpurkhas. In addition to job skill training vocational institutes in Nawabshah, Hyderabad and Tando Mohammad Khan. And of course the already known campuses in Karachi, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Larkana and Dubai.
Under the welcoming hospitality of his Excellency Sheikh Zayed, we spent most of our childhood in the UAE. My siblings and I went to high school here and it was this experience that inspired my mother to establish the first over-sees institute of higher education. As the UAE is home to one of the largest Pakistani communities, it made an ideal choice for setting up the first oversees campus. In October 2003, SZABIST Dubai welcomed its first batch of students.
We pride ourselves on providing an environment for our students and their families where they feel secure and confident to overcome weaknesses, discover their talents and of course discover themselves. We are constantly striving to improve and enhance our facilities and services. As a part of this process, we have recently renovated our campus facilities.
In our efforts to go green with eco-friendly initiatives, we have enhanced our IT department. In the first phase, we have converted one of our labs with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure which is a new emerging technology to help cut down electricity usage. A special thanks to Mr Awan, our longest standing faculty who has been associated with our Dubai branch since its inception for making VDI possible.
We hope to eventually convert all our desktop computers into virtual machines.
In addition, we are in the process of setting up a digital logic lab where students are able to design their electronic circuits.
We have also upgraded our Media lab with new audio visual facilities.
We maintain close relations with the schools catering to the Pakistani community in the U.A.E through various initiatives such as Partners in Education Series for the school principals and the Excellence in Educations Awards for students excelling in the Pakistani school systems in the U.A.E.
I hope to see each one of you progress and prosper through your association with SZABIST.
I would like to extend my gratitude, to our senior most faculty, to the staff whose hard work greatly contributed to the completion of the renovation work.
We try and facilitate our students to the best of our abilities. The environment emphasized here is one of care and understanding. Though leniency in academics may be less sympathetic!
We hope to add to your knowledge, we hope to add to your experience and we hope to add to your memories.
Once again, to all those joining us today – Welcome to the SZABIST family!