LUMS EE Programme Earns PEC Accreditation

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LUMS EE Programme Earns PEC Accreditation

August 10, 2012

The LUMS Electrical Engineering Programme has now formally received accreditation by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) for its undergraduate programme. This is a significant achievement of the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE) and of the Department of Electrical Engineering . The first batch of the LUMS Electrical Engineering programme has graduated this year and this means that the Department has been able to receive accreditation for its very first batch.

The process for accreditation with PEC was initiated in early 2010. As a result, the initial visit of the PEC team, the interim visit, was organised on October 14, 2010. The final visit of the PEC team took place on November 25, 2011. The decision to grant accreditation was taken at the 63rd PEC EA & QEC meeting held on June 23, 2012.

The undergraduate programme committee at the Department of Electrical Engineering strived hard to reach the benchmarks essential to gain this accreditation. A sub-committee comprising Dr Nadeem Ahmad Khan, Dr Jahangir Ikram, and Ahmad Mahmood Tahir, has been instrumental in the detailed and lengthly process of getting the PEC accreditation. Other members of the committee include EE faculty, Nauman Zaffar, Waqas Majeed and Adeel Pasha.

Dr Nadeem described the news as a “joyous” announcement, especially because it has come so early in the life of the department and students from the very first graduating batch can benefit from it. “PEC accredits all engineering programes in Pakistan to ensure the quality of engineering graduates. All industrial organisations in public sector and most in the private sector only hire PEC recognised professional engineers. This accreditation for the first BS Electrical Engineering batch means that LUMS graduates can apply for all professional job openings in Pakistan and abroad and will have a professional chartered status for undertaking consulting and other professional work,” he shared.

Dr Shahid Masud, Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department, commented, "This is an important milestone in the history of EE department and was eagerly awaited by the faculty, the students and their parents.”

Launched in 2006, the Electrical Engineering programme offers a world class curriculum and is divided into four streams based on faculty strength and identification of prominent areas within the Department of Electrical Engineering. These streams are Communications Signals and Systems; Electronics and Embedded Systems; Devices, Optics and Electromagnetics and Energy and Power Systems. The duration of the programme is four years (8-semesters) during which students are required to complete a specified number of courses in categories like the University core courses, School core courses, Department major core courses and Department elective courses.

Engineering education, profession and practice worldwide is regulated through accreditation bodies that exist in all countries. The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) is a statutory body, constituted to regulate the engineering profession in the country such that it shall function as a key driving force for achieving rapid and sustainable growth in all national, economic and social fields. Its main statutory functions include registration of engineers, consulting engineers, constructors/operators and accreditation of engineering programmes run by universities/institutions, ensuring and managing of continuing professional development, assisting the Federal Government as a think tank, establishing standards for engineering products and services besides safeguarding the interest of its members.