IUST, we will miss you!

Mehraj Dar

The journey started in August 2009, when accidentally many of us ran into a field alien to us. With Engineering, Medicine and general bachelors programmes already known, we dared to do something different. Something unique that our ancestors, not even our contemporaries had thought of. Google Guru, only thing to provide us with information and Prof. Fozia S. Qazi always there to make us feel energetic and make sure we do not fall short of information. "You are pioneers", she would say. Prof. Fozia S. Qazi is heading department of Mathematics, Islamic University of Science and Technology Awantipora. She has a twenty year working experience in the U.S. She came back to Kashmir with the aim of bringing Mathematics to us in more modern form. She believes that Kashmiri youth if given opportunities can do wonders. Excitedly we accepted the field called "Actuarial Science" and Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST) has successfully produced the first batch of actuarial graduates this summer. Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuaries are professionals who are qualified in this field through education and experience. In many countries, actuaries must demonstrate their competence by passing a series of rigorous professional examinations.

It was a transition from secondary level to college level, to say, maturity had just shown its face. There were people representing Kashmir from North to South and from rural to urban. The University which is still in the stage of infancy accepted us all, cutting across the barriers and bringing unity in diversity into our class. A unique blend in terms of characters had just made their entry into the campus which they unraveled throughout the course of three years. Everybody was special, filled with enthusiasm and his own talent. This batch of 23 students was in itself a big thing, so diverse but so connected. In short, it represented people from every corner. You have immense talent, the thing is to utilize it, Prof. Peer Bilal would encourage. Prof. Peer Bilal is the senior faculty in Department of Mathematics at IUST. He is an expert in Statistics and has presented many papers at national and international conferences including Kuwait University and Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata.

You have really shown a different path to other students to follow, Prof. Fozia S. Qazi would often tell us. In the pursuit of this program, one has to study a total of twenty-five courses including some online ones at bachelors level. We have gone through a variety of courses such as Actuarial Mathematics, Probability, Financial Derivatives, Statistics, Survival Analysis, Stochastic Processes, Linear Modelling etc. The stringent exam schedule coupled with busy class schedule has in a way grilled us!

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In addition, the department has always encouraged students who are desirous of doing something out-of-the-box. It engaged students in Mathematics Seminar Series, which acts as platform to discuss mathematics in an informal way. We came to know that there is fun-side of Mathematics as well. The students have presented wide range of topics including 19: The Secret Code of God, which explained how number 19 can be found as a unique number in the holy Quran and Mathematical Connections with nature, wherein we came to know about how nature has imbibed mathematics. We would discuss how mathematics is used in our day today life, how numbers are beautiful and above all how mathematics can be used to model problems of day today life. The Department invited eminent mathematician Prof. Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, Delhi University to deliver a lecture at IUST. An hour long interaction followed. Besides, there are faculty exchanges between our University and Delhi University. Prof. Amber Habib who is a senior faculty at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi also visits our department quite often. An online course titled Excel for Business under Mathematical Sciences Foundation (MSF) New Delhi, for the students of the department has been possible through the sincere efforts of Prof. Amber Habib. The department has recently organized workshop in collaboration with IIT Bombay for online LaTeX for faculty and students. The Department also organizes student seminars and screens math related documentaries and videos for students. Some of the documentaries that have been screened include-- Paradise Found, History of Islam in Europe, Fermats Last Theorem, Dangerous Knowledge and Cantor, the god of mathematics and so on. The department also organizes outreach programmes on mathematics wherein schools from nearby areas like Tral are invited. We have been successful in bringing about a big change in perception of these school going children regarding mathematics.

In August 2010, when Kashmir was on boil, some of our students had an opportunity to meet the top leadership of the country which included an hour long interaction with P. Chidambaram the Home Minister of India. We also met Nitin Gadkari, BJP Party President; Shri Bal Apte, President, Dr. Syama Prasad Mokerjee Research Foundation; Tarun Vijay, Director Dr. Syama Prasad Mokerjee Research Foundation and others including Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani. Besides, there was an interaction with Delhi University Students Union President and youth leaders of JawaharLal Nehru University. It provided us a platform to discuss Kashmir, the miseries faced by people and atrocities committed by so called security forces. Azadi was also discussed!

Everybody from professors to employees in the department has been very helpful and supportive. There is nothing like top down approach rather there is bottom up approach. The advisory system employed by the university has helped students to excel in their studies. The campus life also blessed me with some of the rare friends, well-wishers, so as to speak. I would often visit them and learn things because life is a continuous process of learning and re-learning. We would discuss politics, campus life, university functioning and above all Kashmir. Unlike Kashmir University where authority is highly centralized, there is nothing called

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boss in Islamic University. That is what I felt there throughout these three years. If you want an interaction with Vice Chancellor, the doors are always open. You can suggest good things to your head and they will be implemented, for sure.

In January 2012, we met corporate professionals and top academicians for the first time after we stepped in this three year program in August 2009. Actuarial Science, which is very new to India, is one of the best courses pursued at undergraduate and post graduate level in India and that too in very few universities. It offers most lucrative jobs in Insurance sector. It was for the first time that we were sent away from the valley to different parts of India. The idea was to impart some hands-on training and experience. Besides, students get to apply the concepts they learn while studying. The students were sent to IBEXI Solutions Pvt. Ltd Bangalore, Max New York Life Gurgaon, Delhi University, Unicon Investment Solutions and Metlife Inc. Ltd. Actuarial field being alien to the state of Jammu & Kashmir; we got to work with some of the finest minds that this country has produced.

The experience at IUST has been beautiful, filled with vigor and enthusiasm. The canteen that serves beverages, snacks and meals, has been an excellent spot to take a break from busy class schedule. The auditorium, where we have been witness to great writers like Basharat Peer, Aijaz-ul-Haque, Humra Quraishi and great mathematicians like Prof. Dinesh Singh will be missed. Journalism friends like Javaid Lone, whose company has no parallels, will be missed. His company has been great. The almond trees around the campus would give a heaven like feel when in blossom. The sports fields in the backyard, though I never played would rekindle my passion. The yellow colored university buses that would ferry us to and fro carry university from North to South. The library, its calm and quiet atmosphere and above all the beautiful campus of IUST will be missed. We will cherish the days spent there forever. The garden of dialogue will be remembered for ever. We will miss the lectures, gossips and the fun we had. We will miss you IUST! But we will come back and will never hesitate to serve you, whatsoever way you require us. The pace at which it is growing and the sincere efforts of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. A.R. Trag will bear fruits to make it an institution par excellence. The interest shown by both Central and State governments is bound to bring before us a brand IUST!

Author is a student at Central University of Rajasthan and can be mailed at mehraj.dar153@gmail.com.

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