FAST Alumni Association Islamabad - FAAI
FAST-National University, A.K.Brohi Road, H-11/4,
Islamabad
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The FAST Alumni Association Islamabad chapter was created in the spring of year 2009 during a meeting held at FAST Islamabad campus, between the university administration and a number of Alumnus. Since FAST Alumni Association already existed in campuses of Lahore and Karachi, therefore it was decided that the Islamabad chapter should be brought into existence with the following mandate:
To establish a close relationship between the Alumni of FAST and the university administration.
To provide feedback to the university regarding the curriculum and course to be taught,
To prepare students for the industry as well as further studies,
To assist in scholarship drives for needy students,
Conduct alumni events to bring the alumni closer to their alma mater.
As part of this mandate the Alumni Association has worked and is working on the following aspects.
1. In May 2009 the association conducted Mock interviews to prepare the graduating batches for the process of selection that is conducted across the industry. A number of Alumni and graduating students took part in this activity, which helped the students in going through a drill of how companies evaluate the skills of the potential candidates, how to enhance resumes and how to present oneself to an interviewing panel
2. In Winter 2009 the association organized the first Alumni Homecoming event. More than 200 Alumni took part in this function, in which they were introduced to the Alumni Association and its activities. Dr Ayub Alvi, Dr Aftab Maroof and Dr Waseem Ikram gave the universities perspective of what it wishes to achieve through the Alumni Body and how the Alumni can contribute to the success of the university. Burhan Rasool, President of the combined FAST Alumni Association briefed the students about the activities of all the campus Alumni Associations and how they are working to benefit the university.
3. The most successful and prominent role of the Alumni Association has been the establishment of a scholarship program that has been going on since 2009. This scholarship program was started to assist the multitude of students who have a very difficult time in financing their studies at FAST. Every year the Alumni Association conducts a fund collection campaign that reaches out to the Alumni members for donations. At the end of the collection drive the donations are tallied and they are used to give out scholarships to some of the deserving students. The details of the collections and disbursements are given in the attached PDF file. In summary a total of PKR 1 Million has been collected and PKR 660,000 has been given out to students in scholarships.
In order to clarify the working of this scholarship program the following FAQs have been prepared and can be seen at the end of this mail/document.
FAQ on FAST Alumni Association Islamabad Scholarship Scheme
- How can I contribute to this fund?
You can contribute by sending your donation to the following bank account
BANK ACCOUNT INFO
Name Address of the bank: Standard Chartered Bank, F7 Branch, Markaz
F7, Islamabad, PAKISTAN
Account Title: Muhammad Mutahir Latif / Shiraz Anjum Malik / Qarib Raza Kazmi
Bank account number: 01-1886355-01
SWIFT-Code: SCBLPKKX
- Where is the money utilized?
All of the money, that is collected, is utilized solely for the scholarship amounts given to students. Only tuition fee is covered in the scholarship. No part of this amount is used for any administrative purpose or activity.
- Who gets these scholarships and how are they selected?
This is a need based scholarship. Only those students are given scholarships who are in dire financial condition and who can not afford to continue their education without some sort of financial assistance. The selection of the students is done with the collaboration of the Islamabad campus administration. The university itself provides loans to financially constrained students each semester. The university collects the financial details of the candidates and selects the student and the % amount that will be given as loan. Since the university cannot provide all the required amount, that the student needs to continue the education, that is where the Alumni association steps in. We are given the list of those students and their financial details, who still require financial assistance. The Alumni association in multiple meetings, go through the list and select the candidates that are in the most dire financial situation. This university is informed of the selected students, and the required amount is disbursed to the university, to cover the tuition fee.
- Is there any proof from the university that the amount has been given to the students?
Whenever the Alumni association gives out a scholarship, the director of the campus sends out an email confirming the receipt of the scholarship amount on FutureFAST and other groups. The association and university both have written records of the amounts disbursed.
- Why not publish the names of the students who were given the scholarship?
Since this is a need based scholarship and the students selected are from poor financial background therefore, in order to keep their self esteem, the names are never disclosed to the public. Only the university admin and some of the Alumni executive committee are aware of the student’s name.
- Can I give my zakat to this scholarship program?
Please note that this fund is not applicable for Zakat. Please make sure that the amounts that you donate are NOT part of Zakat.
- Why is the Alumni scholarship account in the name of three personnels joint account and not in the name of the Alumni Association?
Initially when the Alumni association was formed, in order to expedite the process of the scholarship we urgently needed a bank account to park the donations. As a result three of the executive committee members created a joint account, which can only be operated by all three signatories only. We are in the process of registering it as an Not for profit organization, which is a long and cumbersome process. Once that is complete a new bank account will be opened in the name of FAST Alumni Association Islamabad chapter. In you can please do assist the association in expediting this process so that this transition can be done at the earliest.
- Can anyone contribute to this fund or do you have to be an Alumni?
This fund is open to any contributions. However when depositing please do mention the name (optional), batch (mandatory) and date of deposit (mandatory) to the account holders, so that they may keep track of the donations.
- How can i contribute if I am in North America?
The representatives of the Alumni Association are in the US, who collect the amounts from the Alumnus who are in North America. Their names are Mujahid Hassan and Omer Shahid, Both are from Batch 99-B and both are in Microsoft.
Batch representations from early batches
- Batch 97: Qarib kazmi, Aijaz Zia, Shiraz Malik
- Batch 98: Shahzad Badar, Usman Khan, Babar Haq
- Batch 99a: Mutahir latif
- Batch 99b: Omer Shahid
