KARACHI: The Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) has begun publishing its research journal. One of the institution’s officials said that the first issue of the journal consists of 32 pages of well-researched articles.

Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology

SSUET Chancellor ZA Nizami is the patron-in-chief of the editorial board while Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr Saiyed Nazir Ahmed is the patron and Bio-Medical Engineering Chairman Prof. Dr MA Haleem is the chief editor. Nizami felt that the initiation of the journal would help promote research and would contribute to the knowledge of science and technology.

This video lecture gives and introduction to propaganda techniques, types of propaganda and how people can detect propaganda in any content. The video is part of the educational series on Propaganda and Perception Management.

Karachi: University of Karachi has announced Monday the postponement of all exams scheduled to be held on Tuesday owing to the law and order situation across the metropolitan.

Kaleem Raza Khan, Registrar Karachi University told in a statement issued to media said that all exams had been postponed owing to announcement of the day of mourning on Tuesday.

University of Karachi postponed all examinations scheduled on tuesday

He said the new dates would be announced soon for the postponed papers.

New research shows that there is a correlation between the amount of time you spend in front of the TV and how long you live.

A study by researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia has concluded that, for every hour of television watched after age 25, the average human lifespan drops by 22 minutes. A person who watch six hours of TV per day will, on average, live five years less than people who spent less time on the couch and in front of the television screen.

Every Hour of TV You Watch May Shorten Your Lifespan By 22 Minutes: Study

The study tracked data from 11,000 Australian participants over the age of 25. It was published earlier this month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

This study doesn’t prove that TV is quietly killing us. It’s more likely that lack of exercise and bad eating habits are shortening the lifespans of TV couch potatoes. A person who spends six hours a day staying active is almost certainly going to live longer than a person who likes to lean back in a recliner watching countless episodes of Judge Judy or Law and Order: SVU.

It’s not just TV watching that’s bad for you, either. We recently learned that sitting in front of the computer for six hours a day increases your risk of death by 40%. And with Americans watching more video than ever, the health problem is growing. That’s why we’re fans of the stand-up desk.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said education was the key to fight against ignorance, extremism and terrorism, therefore the government had taken a number of steps to promote educational facilities, both for boys and girls.

Addressing Islamabad Model Schools for Boys and Girls here at PM Staff Colony, after inaugurating the new buildings of these two institutions, he said, “We do have financial constraints but fully determined to promote educational facilities and it is at top of the priorities of the government.”

Education key to fight extremism, terrorism and ignorance: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani

The Prime Minister said once the Muslims were at the top in the world, mainly due to the progress in education. He said lack of education was the main cause of the downward trend of the Muslims. He said education played an effective and key role in the progress and prosperity of the society, to keep it united and make it more stronger.

He said, “After the 18th Amendment, the education has become a provincial subject, but the Federal Government is still making sincere efforts and contributing a lot in the improvement of educational facilities in the country.”

The Prime Minister said the Federal Government has been in consultation with the chief ministers to have a coordinated, correlated and unified system of education throughout the country for providing equal opportunities to the students.

He said education was important for the progress and prosperity of the country, and added that illiteracy is root-cause of all destructions including the extremism and terrorism.

The Prime Minister said, “We should not under-estimate our youth as if they will be provided adequate opportunities, they have the talent and they could project the name of the country and their parents in the world.”

He said the government will take important decisions to promote education and special emphasis will be given on teachers training and creating harmony among the teachers and parents to improve educational facilities.

The Prime Minister said teachers and parents should be role-model for the children so that they could be motivated to get education without any hesitation and difficulty to play a due role in nation building.

Gilani said youth played important role in Pakistan Movement and Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah considered the youth as his main force.

He said the youth had proved it that they could play important role in any difficulty and challenge either earthquake, floods or extremism.

Referring to 51 percent female population, the Prime Minister assured that the government would ensure equal opportunities in education and other fields for the female population.

The Prime Minister said, “The students are asset for the country and they are not liabilities” therefore despite financial constraints, the government has been providing funds for the education sector.

He said due to awareness among the people and especially in the students, every one knew that extremism and terrorism were the real enemies of the country and creating hurdle in the progress and prosperity of the country.

Appreciating the contribution of some of the foreign countries in the promotion of educational facilities in Pakistan, the Prime Minister said, the government would make more steps for the mobilization of the international community for the promotion of educational facilities.

The Prime Minister said the government had also been taking steps for the improvement of educational institutions and he referred to the decision taken by him to declare all educational institutions in the Federal Capital as Model Schools and Colleges to improve the standard of these institutions.

During the visit to the library, the Prime Minister assured the students that the government would provide more books and reading material to them as required.

The Prime Minister also announce Rs. 100,000 to the students who presented Milli songs on this occasion.

Lahore: Some 153,668 students took the examination. The success ratio of the students remained 34.9 percent.

According to the results issued by the university, Rida Rashid, a girl from Toba Tek Singh, topped the BSc examinations, Irfa Naseem from Gujrawanla followed her with second position while Sadia Perven got the third position.

Punjab University announces results of BA and BSc

Iqra Abbas from Lahore got the highest marks in BA examinations while Zaheer Iqbal and Hamza came second and third.

Punjab University has organized a ceremony at PU new campus and prizes are distributed to students who have passed in merits.

Their was some confusion on the announcement date of the results, some sources reported that the results will be published on August 15, but finally the wait for the students is over and the results are announced.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced scholarship for the position holder Amna in the Matric results recently declared by Gujranwala Board of Intermediate and Secondary Examination.

Amna is the daughter of a poor vendor in Gujranawala and her family is facing serious financial crisis.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announces scholarship for position holder of Gujranwala Board

According to the state-TV, the PM gave this direction after reports of Amna’s brilliant success were aired by the media.

The prime minister directed the Ministry of Information & Technology to sanction a scholarship for the better future of Amna.

Exam officials have launched an investigation after up to 30,000 students in Scotland who opted to get their grades by text message were sent them on Wednesday, a day early by mistake.

Opposition leaders in the Scottish parliament said the blunder had given these students a clear advantage in finding places at university because the list of late courses available went live on the internet at a minute past midnight on Thursday morning, nine hours before the results were officially due to arrive. Ken Macintosh, Labour’s education spokesman at Holyrood, said: “This is a serious mistake and will cause concern for the tens of thousands of people who have not had this headstart in getting their results,” he said. “There should be a clear and level playing field, especially because the online clearing system is live and searchable from midnight.”

Students began receiving text messages earlier on Wednesday

As many teenagers vented their anger at the error on Twitter and Facebook, a spokesman for the Scottish Qualifications Authority apologised for the error and admitted it could increase the anxiety being felt by candidates and their families.

He confirmed all the results received by text were correct, but insisted that no student would be able to apply for courses or find out the actual grades required by courses in clearing because the late courses service did not start taking applications until 9am on Thursday.

The exam regulator’s spokesman said: “We’re aware that this is in any case a stressful time for candidates and their parents and families, and if we have added to their stress in any way, we apologise.”

The authority said 29,863 of the 160,000 exam students who sat final exams, including standard grades, highers and Scottish baccalaureate, had registered to get their results by text; about 6,000 more had opted for email notification.

“There has been an issue, no running away from that, with text delivery and we’re trying to bottom that out. But better to be delivered early rather than late I would suggest,” a spokesman said.

“I can confirm that it would appear that 29,000 candidates who had signed up for text results delivery and should have received their results at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning have been receiving them now,” the spokesman said.

“They have received them in error and we’re carrying out an investigation with the external contractor who carries out this service for us.”

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, said: “This is extremely unprofessional and will create a great deal of anxiety and stress for pupils already anxious and stressed. The person responsible should re-sit their IT exams.”

The row overshadowed some improvements in the overall performance by pupils, with a new record pass rate for higher grade exams. Of the 16- and 17-year-olds who sat the exams this summer, 75.2% passed, compared to 74.6% last year.

The pass rate for advanced highers – sat by the brightest 17- and 18-year-olds – jumped to 79.3% from 77.5% last year.

The proportion of pupils passing standard grade exams, normally taken by 15- and 16-year-olds, was the same as last year at 98.5%, while the pass rate for a qualification in basic literacy and numeracy taken by 15- and 16-year-olds continued to fall. Some 62.5% of pupils passed access 2 exams, compared to 62.8% last year.

Janet Brown, Scotland’s chief examining officer, said many results were “tangible proof” that pupils’ hard work had been justified. “This year, we continue to witness modest but important increases in the attainment levels of our young people,” she said. “For me, this reflects in no small measure, the results of the changes teachers have been making to learning and teaching approaches.”

There was an angry reaction, however, from many school pupils on Twitter. Some students said they had not received theirs by text, implying that they had signed up for the text message service.

New Delhi: India and Australia on Monday announced the launch of an education council to strengthen exchanges between the two nations.

“Last April, we decided to start the India-Australia education council, which we start on Monday,” HRD minister Kapil Sibal said after meeting Australian tertiary education minister Chris Evans in New Delhi.

Sibal announced the start of the India-Australia education council at a press conference here.

A meeting of vice-chancellors from nearly 30 universities from the two countries was also held in New Delhi on Sunday. “We are looking forward to expand the relations and increase people to people, and institution to institution contact,” Evans said.

The university-level collaboration would include degree recognition, credit transfer, and collaboration in post-graduate and research programmes.

Asked about the issue of safety of Indian students in Australia, Evans said special steps have been taken for that.

Tim Kelsey, No 10′s director of transparency, said that schools and doctors should use the web to cut down paperwork and reduce their costs.

Mr Kelsey said: “We don’t want to have schools spending money on printing school reports nor do we want to have doctors sending out referral letters. That can be done online.”

He compared the shift to the move to online banking, saying the “sleight of hand” by the banks meant customers were “happy to be using the web because they had more control while also doing the banks’ clerical work for them”.

Speaking to think tank Demos, Mr Kelsey said that making more information available online was crucial to the Government’s open data strategy. He said that in future all companies doing work for public money could be forced to make their data public as well. “Transparency should follow the money. Wherever public money is being spent, there should be openness”.

The Government is to launch a new consultation on openness within the next few weeks. Mr Kelsey added that “there was a debate to be had” on whether advice given to ministers should be made public.