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Why Study at COMSATS

Studying at any university can be both rewarding and challenging. At CIIT we want you to enjoy your subjects, gain experience in different ways of thinking and working and leave with the knowledge and skills to take control of your future. CIIT is a university where students aspire to take admissions. Highly competitive and not an easy place to fulfill the merit requirements and if admitted have to work really hard to achieve good results. CIIT does more than teach you facts. Problem-based learning develops your rational and analytical skills with classes that challenge your assumptions, refine your ideas and teach you to express those ideas powerfully. A leading university requires leading technology. At CIIT, you will learn in an environment supported by the latest tools of the trade.

The COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) was granted status of Degree Awarding Institute (DAI) by the Federal Government of Pakistan vide Presidential Ordinance No. XXXVIII issued on August 12, 2000. The President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the Patron and the Federal Minister for Science & Technology is the Chancellor of the Institute. The CIIT functions under the guidance of the Board of Governors (BOG) headed by the Executive Director, COMSATS. The Board of Governors has representation from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Higher Education Commission (HEC), educational NGOs and distinguished Academia. The principal academic and administrative officer of the Institute is the Rector, who performs his functions in accordance with the general policy guidelines of the CIIT, laid down in the Charter and governed by the Board of Governors. The CIIT is now slated for upgradation as a university by the name of 'COMSATS University' through an act of the parliament.

Rankings enhance the prestige of an institution and draw media interest. More importantly, the reputation of an institution plays an important role in attracting world-class professors as well as students. The implications of having top professors and students are manifold. Research funding from foundations depends largely on the quality of research output (and ultimately affects government funding, who use funded research as an indicator of research quality). Top professors not only attract funding; they attract students (student numbers also affect the amount of Funding received). Achievements of alumni depend in part on the quality of knowledge and training that they have received during their studies. Publishing in top-class journals also attracts attention of other researchers and hence citations, which are used in a number of ranking systems.

It is a matter of pride for the CIIT that it has been able to record remarkable achievements in terms of ranking of its Engineering degree programs as well as research productivity of the faculty members, given its brief history.

The Higher Education commission (HEC) has carried out an exercise for the ranking of institutions of higher education in Pakistan. According to HEC's ranking of engineering universities, CIIT is at number 8 among the engineering institutions of higher education during 2006.

In terms of research output, CIIT has been ranked at number 5 out of all the institutions of higher education numbering more than 124 in the country during 2005-2007, as notified by the HEC. In terms of research citations, the research produced at CIIT has been ranked at number 2 in Pakistan, as verified by the Web of Science. CIIT has also been ranked at number 7 in research ranking of Universities on the basis of cumulative Impact Factor based on Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) web of knowledge (USA), as notified by HEC. The lists may be viewed here .

Undergraduate Engineering degree programs of the CIIT have been accredited by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), the accrediting body for engineering education in the country. Relevant information in this regard is available at the website of PEC.

More than 220 faculty members and academic managers holding PhD qualification are currently serving the CIIT. Majority of the remaining have MS/M.Phil in the relevant fields. CIIT is proud to have outstanding faculty like Dr. Saleem Asghar and Dr. Aslam Noor who have been awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz and Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan recently.

More than 345 faculty members are undergoing advanced education/training leading to MS and PhD degrees and post doctoral research in USA, UK, China, France, Sweden, Australia, Austria, Germany, Canada, Malaysia, Finland, Korea, Netherland etc. The funding for advanced education has come from CIIT scholarships and a few from self sponsorships. CIIT takes special interest in the faculty development. Seminars and workshops are held very offen for this purpose.

Faculty members are quite active in research in their respective fields and the total number of research articles published by them in impact factor International Journals are as follows: Faculties Research Articles Faculty of Business Administration 41 Faculty of Engineering 36 Faculty of Information Sciences and Technology 34 Faculty of Science 425 Total 536

To further encourage the research environment at the institute, the CIIT management has also announced 'Cash Awards' for publications of research Articles by CIIT Employees i.e. Rs. 5,000 & Rs. 10,000 for research articles published in national & international journals respectively. The quality of research at CIIT is also reflected in the high level of funding we attract year after year from the HEC and the research councils. Much of the university's ground breaking research is achieved through its longstanding commitment to natural sciences and IT. It is our belief that the best education is delivered only when teaching excellence combines with first-rate research.

Our consistently high reputation in scientific subjects has ensured that we have an excellent infrastructure of laboratories and equipment and recent years have seen substantial investment. Similarly we invest heavily in our library with above average spending on books, journals, periodicals and videos. CIIT has right to use Digital library which makes it much easier for the students and the faculty to have direct access to all the search engines where one can find lots of information just a click away. CIIT is fully aware of the importance of libraries which serves as the fountain of knowledge.