The second phase ceremony of the Final Year Design Project Financing 2023-24 of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) was held at Iqbal Auditorium, University of Agriculture (UAF) Faisalabad, by PEC’s Pakistan Development Committee (PPDC).
PEC Chairman Engr. Muhammad Najeeb Haroon was the chief guest at the ceremony. As many as 102 universities participated in the event and 92 universities physically attended whereas 1800 students having 543 projects were awarded with financing.
The contesting engineering students are awarded sponsorship at the Final Year Engineering Design Project Financing annual ceremony, to promote industry/market-compatible products. PEC in collaboration with universities and industry is identifying current market/industry products/projects for engineering students as Final Year Design Projects (FYDPs) through industry survey study and business community. Relevant, pertinent, and current projects as per local needs of industry are being selected in collaboration with universities for focused classification Final Year Design Projects (FYDPs).
Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmed Khan, the Vice-Chancellor of UAF Faisalabad, welcomed all valuable guests from academia, media, and industries. He appreciated such a great initiative for the first time in the history of the PEC coming up to benefit the universities and to support academia and engineering students, through which they will get the motivation to deliver as per the market needed projects and serve Pakistan.
Engr Mir Masood Rashid adviser to the chairman of PEC and convenor of PPDC highlighted the business needs of such a platform through which industry localization was promoted considering the economic challenges of Pakistan.
He talked about the prime objective of Final Year Projects Financing, which is mainly focused on the entrepreneurship of Young Engineers, who will be promoted with the facilitation of networking to resources, mentorship and facilitation of loans and grants for startups.
Other successful initiative of the PEC PPDC includes, the 1st Engineer Parliamentarians Caucus formed for advocacy in policymaking being the intellectual backbone of society, Day Trip learning for 3rd year engineering students, STEM education Ambassadors programme at the school level to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics so that potential talent be developed to build generation more towards growing Pakistan which is the critical need of time, Engineering CAPSTONE EXPO to showcase industry required projects from all over Pakistan universities, PEC E-Library, paid Graduate Internship programme (GIT), UN SDG’s adoption and PEC E-Gateway for consulting services e-procurement for promoting local Engineering talent in the international market. through coordinated efforts of overseas engineers to preserve brain drain at the national level.
Dr Khurram Tariq, President of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce, appreciated the efforts of PEC, and for such initiatives, the industry was waiting for a long.
Engr Muhammad Najeeb Haroon (chairman PEC) chief guest of the ceremony addressed the ceremony with a focus on the core responsibility of the respective organizations including PEC so that we may restart our journey with the target objective of being among developed countries.
Youth is a core pillar of Pakistan to play their role for which PEC took several initiatives to support them and this financing is among them. so that potential and opportunities are not lost in terms of brain drain. Localization of the “Made in Pakistan” journey is the need of time if we want to be out of this critical economic situation.
The Ceremony was attended by valuable guests from media, academia, and industries, Dr Dur Muhammad Pathan, Pro VC Mehran University Khairpur), Engr Prof. Dr. Abdul Rauf Bhatti, and GB members Engr. Mohsin Ali khan, Engr Jawad Gilani, Engr Nafasat Raza and Engr Muhammad Kamran.