The notion that an educational institution is empowering its student body sounds enticing as it may be a strategic marketing move; however, there is more than meets the eye in a positive sense.
At Superior University, there seems to be a higher philosophy at play to ensure the prosperity of the student underlined by an active commitment to the promised entrepreneurial ecosystem and the idea of active citizenship.
It was owing to this expansive and ground-breaking philosophy that Superior University started hosting its Student Body Elections to enhance the students’ emotional intelligence while defying the longstanding denunciation of giving a voice to the students.
The vision: to nurture vibrant leaders of tomorrow who can thrive in their respective professional fields once they graduate.
The student bodies at Superior are divided into three types: Student Voice Leaders, Departmental Clubs, and Superior Societies. The Student Voice Leaders represent the pinnacle of Superior’s dream of inspiring and empowering the students to take charge of their destiny and lead their peers with responsibility and dedication.
The departmental Vice-Presidents of the SVLs get to sit on the Board of Studies meeting while the university president of the SVLs gets a permanent seat on the Board of Governors and Academic Council meetings for each election cycle.
The Departmental Clubs are the foundation of Superior’s balanced approach towards academics as well as co-curricular activities.
The Clubs provide talented students with opportunities to augment their academic careers and hone their management skills while contributing to creating a lively and conducive campus and learning environment.
The Superior Societies embody the best and the brightest of the plethora of Superior’s insatiable in-house talent.
The Societies provide gifted students with the platform and necessary rigorous training to chase their dreams through extensive participation in national and international competitions while bringing honor and pride to their alma mater and etching their names in the Superior legacy.
The slogan for this year’s election was ‘ ہر فرد ہے ملت کے مقدر کا ستارہ ‘ and ‘Heed the Obligation, Lead the Nation’ that celebrated the boundless capacity of the individual to be an agent of era-defining change and leave a lasting impact on the collective.
This also underlines a commitment on the part of the individuals to feel the weight of their responsibilities towards changing the destiny of a nation and leading the way to build an economically Superior Pakistan.
The student body advisors and the university’s academic leadership were heavily involved in the process of scrutinizing and evaluating the merits of each candidate to ensure that the most qualified and worthy candidates get to represent the student body.
The polls for the representative electorate were held on Wednesday, February 16, 2022, as 1,752 strong students’ representative electorate cast their votes at over 30 polling stations spread across the campus. The representative electorate was earlier elected with the votes of over 16,000 students at Superior.
Registrar, Superior University, and Additional Controller Examination acted as the Chief Election Commissioner and the Returning Officer of the annual election respectively while student body advisors carried out their responsibilities as presiding officers.
After the elections, 19 Vice Presidents of Students Voice Leaders were elected.
After weeks of rigorous scrutiny and evaluation of the VPs, three candidates named Fahad Aziz, Agha Moiz Ahmad Khan, and Muneeb Saleem were shortlisted for the post of President, Student Voice Leaders.
Rector, Superior University – Dr. Sumaira Rehman, and Director OEC – Ehtisham Amir interviewed the shortlisted candidates as they posed challenging questions to the candidates with respect to their agenda to facilitate student involvement in decision-making and enable a pulsating campus environment to identify the best, most qualified candidate.
The electoral process to appoint the President of the Student Voice Leaders was concluded with an oath-taking ceremony held at Superior University’s Gold Campus, where the worthy Rector graced the ceremony with her presence.
During her address, Dr. Sumaira said, “Superior is one of the few universities in Pakistan that conducts an annual Student Body Election with a core purpose of democratically engaging the student body to contribute to the co-creation of a conducive environment for meaningful research, innovative learning, and student success.”
She added that Superior was committed to empowering and engaging its student body to enable them to contribute to the procreation of vibrant, enriching campus life.
Following her address, Dr. Sumaira announced Fahad Aziz from the Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation as the President of Student Voice Leaders for 2022 and administered the oath to the President.
Afterward, the President swore in the other Student Voice Leaders. The Rector also presented the President with the President’s Blazer at the end of the ceremony.
Boasting international exposure, thanks to his time at Istinye University, Istanbul as an Erasmus Exchange Student, Fahad has served his alma mater with pride with his contributions to the Superior English Language Society, Superior Debating Society, and Superior Care Society, representing Superior in numerous co- and extracurricular competitions.
Although this may seem like a small step, and there is a long way to go, it is a step in the right direction. The youth of this country have been marginalized for a long time and it is high time that educational institutions and, more importantly, the government, began to realize the absolute necessity of giving the youth a voice, a chance.
The recent decision to reinstate the Student Unions taken by the Sindh Government is a welcome sign but more needs to be done. Our youth has bottomless potential; they just need a little pat on the back, a kind word, and a little direction, and they will make us proud and usher in a new and proud future that is not that far away.
Talking and thinking have always been easy but acting on one’s word is where things usually get complicated. The leadership at Superior has done it the hard way but Superior University has shown that it is possible to realize what was once only an exciting idea.
No one knows when the students will get back the voices that they at the very least deserve and if the ghost of the Student Unions’ perceived cons will come back to bite the nation and its youth yet again.
Regardless, in case the national leadership decides to reinstate the Student Unions, it would be imperative to prevent a repeat of the past.
In order to avoid the repeat of the reasons that instigated the ban on Student Unions some 37 years ago, Superior’s blueprint may be a good place to start the conversation.
