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Archive for the ‘university of technology’ Category

Pakistan’s diverse and colorful face of modern Education has evolved and expanded drastically since the country came into being in the mid 20th century. Today a variety of educational committees, systems and boards are abundant in the country some of most common are Religious Schools committee, The Federal Board, the HEC or Higher Education Commission, and the private or foreign sector.

Under the official HEC there are several high-grade Universities that are not only listed as some of the best in the world but among the topmost of Asia and Pakistan. To name a few there is NUST (National University of Sciences and Technology), IBA (Institute of Business and Administration), UMT (University of Management and Technology), AU (Air University) and National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences.

Talking of the latter; FAST or NUCES for the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences we are first to relate to its history. Back in 1985 the Foundation for Advancement of Science and Technology in the country in an effort to introduce developing sciences in the budding country; set up complexes for computer science in two of the main cities of Pakistan, namely Lahore and Karachi.

They later on set up campuses in Islamabad and Peshawar too. NUCES is acclaimed as one of the highest engineering universities by the Pakistan engineering council (PEC) and by the (HEC) in the nation. It thus has the honor of being the first multi-campus Institute of Pakistan.

Another notable institute of Pakistan is Air University, which is a project of Pakistan’s Federal Public Sector located in Pakistan’s capital; Islamabad. It was founded in 2002 and is approved of by the HEC and PEC as a leader in its field of engineering, especially aeronautical engineering. Its degrees are widely accepted and approved off internationally on a smaller scale and nationally too on a very wide one.

What’s more is that being very young for its timeline it has achieved much and granted much to a large number of alumni entering and leaving it yearly. The campus is state-of-the-art for its age to with laboratories, high-end cafeteria, sports activities and facilities.

Moreover studying is also becoming increasingly easier now that students are equipped with personal laptops. It also grants more second and third-party opportunities such as internships and pre-life experience. Health care is also very carefully regarded and lately Hostel facilities have enabled more aspiring students from neighboring cities to enroll and enjoy the benefits of better higher education.

With solar power becoming more and more popular in today’s society, scientists are racing to find new ways to make the conversion of solar light into usable energy cheaper to manufacture and more efficient.

Currently solar panels are made by cutting crystalline silicon into really small disks less than a centimeter thick. These small thin disks are meticulously polished and treated to repair any damage caused by the cutting process. After polishing, metal conductors and dopants (materials added to alter the electrical charge in the photovoltaic solar cell) are spread across each disk. The disks are arranged in a grid-like pattern on the top of the solar panel. The panel is then covered with a protective sheet of thin glass that is bonded to the panel. It is then bonded to a base material with a very expensive thermal cement. The cement is needed to help channel excess heat away from the panel, so as to not overheat the cells. Although, these panels work, they are not as efficient as most researchers would like. They are also fairly expensive and still have a tendency to over-heat.

David Ginger, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Washington and his team of researchers think they may have found the answer. They found a way to create images of super tiny bubbles and channels (apoximately 10,000 times smaller than a human hair ) inside organic plastic solar cells. It turns out that if the plastic polymers are spread thin and baked, the bubbles and channels will form as a natural consequence of the heating process. The intensity and duration o the heat affects the configuration of the bubbles. The configuration or the bubbles dictates the efficiency of the solar cell.

Paul Berger, professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of physics at Ohio State has been expanding on the use of plastic polymers to capture and convert solar light into efficient energy. Berger and his team found that adding tiny silver nanoparticles to the plastic polymers increased the efficiency of the solar panels (electrical current generated per square centimeter) increased by almost 12%. “The small silver particles help the polymer capture a wider range of wavelengths of sunlight than would normally be possible, which in turn increases the current output,” Berger explained.

Meanwhile, Brian Korgel, a chemical engineer at the University of Texas is working on a solar “ink”. These nanoparticle solar inks can be printed on a plastic substrate or on stainless steel. Conceivably, they could be painted directly onto roofs or the sides of buildings. Korgel and his team are hoping that this technology can cut the cost of production of solar cells to 1/10th of what it is today!

As our society focuses more and more on “green energy” solutions, the demand for research into more efficient solar technology grows. It is the common hope that with the advancement of these technologies, the utilization of solar energy will become economically viable enough to someday completely replace fossil fuels.

Many immediate and complex issues overwhelm educators today. With positive and negative global influences, educators must look beyond the surface of education. Students are not just products of their schools but will become shaping forces in society, determining the success and failure of their nation’s future. Curricularists, educators, and everyone in leadership need to work together to develop a well-rounded curriculum, which includes the learning of different cultures. Our next generation will need to cope with cross-cultural matters and grow into sensible adults who are fair and just to the global society.

Technology plays an essential role in our education today and will even more so in the future. Especially in countries where economic and political situations are stable, the accessibility of the Internet and computers to maximize curriculum and to act as a means of communication among educators, even to the extent of intranets, must become available. This technology should be available in every school funded by taxes and donation from private industry.

Technology can also close the gaps between the educational levels around the world. Because of the political and socio-economic differences among countries, it would be impossible for this degree of technology to reach all parts of the world, yet effort should be made to see that education is fairy distributed to all children everywhere. This will require volunteers, donations, and assistance from the capable countries internationally. Even if there was just one computer in every town for those countries for school children, it would make a difference.

Another reason technology is significant to our curriculum development is for cultural knowledge expansion. The need to understand different cultures is an emergent issue in today’s education and societies as relationships among countries become more intertwined. The United States has always been a country of diversity; however, for the longest time, the contents of its curriculum were selectively western-focused.

For example, high school world history courses emphasized primarily European and western history. We now can make use of technology to design a world history curriculum that includes not only that part of world history but extends farther. San Diego University, in cooperation with the National Center for History in the Schools at the University of Los Angeles, offers Internet information on world history and assists teachers in delivering a whole curriculum without excluding a major part of the world’s people, events, or times (San Diego State University, 2007).

We should also take advantage of technology to form a curriculum for creating international awareness, understanding various cultures, and learning different opinions and values. Curriculums
need to focus on melting down barriers against others who are different and to encourage mutual respect and understanding for other cultures and beliefs. One way to promote cultural exchange is through technological communication. Thanks to the advancement of technology today, students all over the world can actually use computers to see and to talk to each other. More effort on promoting such communication should be encouraged and assisted by the government, various organizations, and individuals with the means to do so. One day, through the help of technology in education, people will learn that we are all part of the world community.