Following photo is courtesy of _tunnel_. The photo was taken on May 14, 2008 in Malir, Karachi. Private educational institutions have become big business in Pakistan, but this picture is also about so much more. What comes to your mind when you see this?
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(a) The picture is a bit deceptive. The tire shop is pretty far from the building and it creates a negative impression of the university.
(b) The sign board is very unprofessionally done — which is all too common in Karachi. The building looks reasonably ok for Pakistan standards and maybe a close up would do justice.
(c) The liberal elite and the regular folks have an obsession with “American-sounding” names. I’ve seen the craziest names everywhere in Karachi. They go out of their way to find western (mostly American) names for their schools and institute. It’s good entertainment value, in my opinion.
(d) We also see use of traditional and cultural names in Pakistan for institutions and organizations so there’s definitely a bit of self-respect and dignity left in our people although mostly it’s the religious portion of the population which has upheld this principle.
Oh my God!
I live in the vicinity.
As someone pointed out, East-West University in Chicago is a legit, small, private, non-denominational college founded and run by Dr. Wasiullah Khan. Wasi Saahab is a veteran of the Pakistani educational system, too. I know for a fact because he was a colleague of my father’s in the mid-to-late 50s in Government College Sukkur. [Some very interesting folks came out of that collection of young lecturers, by the way, but that’s another story.]
And yes, they were working on starting a campus in Karachi at one point, but I seem to remember that being near the Clifton phone exchange (“Old Clifton”, near 70 Clifton and the British Consulate). Maybe they’ve moved since.
in short, this pic makes me think of inferiority complex and snob culture.
@Eidee Man, r u referring to Preston Univ in pk instead?
Agree with Dusty on this one. It reminds me of “Princeton University” in Karachi offering MBA and other business programs, when in fact, the real Princeton does not have a business school.