An inter-varsity faculty development program between the Asian Institute of Technology and theUniversity of Balochistan (UoB) has paid big dividends for the partner university situated in oneof Pakistan’s remotest, least developed regions.Five newly minted Pakistani doctoral graduates of Regional and Rural Development Planning (RRDP) from the AIT School of Environment, Resources and Development have established a new Department of Disaster Management and Development Studies at UoB in Quetta.Dr. Ainuddin Syed (RRDP, 2012), whose PhD dissertation titled “Building community resilience of an earthquake prone area in Balochistan” was completed under his advisor Prof. J. K. Routray, took the lead to convince university administrators to launch the department aimed at addressing burning issues impacting Balochistan province, and also to take advantage of other highly-trained AIT alumni.
“This is a great achievement for AIT,” Dr. Ainuddin said in an email to his academic mentor at the end of July. “Being AIT alumni, we feel proud to replicate a number of the ideas we learned at RRDP.”
Other advisees of Prof. Routray set to become faculty members in the new department are Dr. Muhammad Ashraf (2014) and Dr. Sohail Akram (2014). Fellow RRDP alums Dr. Mumtaz Ali Baloch (2014) and Dr. Ghulam Murtaza (2015), who each studied under AIT’s Prof. G. B. Thapa, will also join the department.
Two of the five specialized in Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM) issues, Prof. Routray said. Both Dr. Ainuddin and Dr. Ashraf, whose AIT dissertation was titled “Drought assessments, impacts and farmers’ coping mechanism in Balochistan”, are now published academicians, specializing in disaster-related issues impacting the province, he added.
The University of Balochistan had chosen AIT as the education training ground for its faculty development program. Current student Mr. Sanaullah Panezai, who is also completing his doctoral studies in RRDP, will join as a faculty member after graduation, completing the batch.
Prior to travelling to Thailand to pursue their Master’s leading to PhD degree, all had been UoB lecturers in fields such as geography, statistics and public administration. Yet despite their diverse academic backgrounds, they have now been able to converge and contribute to one vital educational platform in their homeland because of their AIT training, Dr. Ainuddin said.
He added that although the university now has many qualified PhDs with degrees from other countries, AIT alumni in particular have all secured good academic positions.
Aiming to forge an academic relationship with his alma mater, Dr. Ainuddin has requested his university’s Registrar to initiate a memorandum of understanding with AIT to facilitate the exchange of faculty and students.
The recently sanctioned Department of Disaster Management and Development Studies will accept Master’s and PhD level candidates for the spring 2016 academic session.
It is a notable case study for building up the human capacity required for staffing a functioning university department, officials agreed. “This is a success story for both AIT and UoB,” Prof. Routray said.