Vol. IX, Issue 1 Summer Semester 2009 Bon Voyage! Cultural, Educational and Future is Here, Now! Historical Tour to Thailand VC Upholds Futuristic HE Summer Semester 2009 saw another tour to Educational Methods, the Far East for students of Knowledge Management Tthe university. It started with an The Vice Chancellor, Ms Seema online quiz competition and essay Mughal, envisions a future free of writing contest based on the cul paper by introducing modern man ture, education and history of agement methodologies to facili Thailand. The students with the tate students, faculty and staff. highest points were given cash Ms. Seema Mughal, Vice-Chancellor, Consul General, H.E. Joompol The Vice Chancellor, with the assis prizes in Thai Bhat as spending Manaschuang, Royal Thai Consulate General, and Ms Tahira Khan, Assistant tance of the Faculty of Management money for their trip. Professor, addressing the students and their parents. Sciences & Information Studies, The Consul General, H.E. Joompol gave away the prizes. The Consul dents on doing so well on the quiz planned an innovative strategy to Manaschuang, of the Royal Thai and the Vice Consul, H.E. Halim based on Thailand. They very implement a Centralized Management Consulate General in Karachi, Warna Lai, congratulated the stu kindly arranged – Contd. on P/2 System featuring Automated Email Repository System (AERS), Automated Test Management System (ATMS) and Automated Schedule Management System (ASMS). Prior to its implementation an error free environment has been set up featuring state of the art servers, a replication and data – Contd. on P/7 Survey of Professions – Dignity of Labor HE Business Communication GENG 502 Winter semester class did survey to gather Inside… Hats Off to Our Basketball Team information about their report on • TriptoJCR VIS ………2 Greenwichians Cheer Victors in the 8th Aga Khan T ‘Dignity of Labor’ in professions like • Worst ever Global Recession3 Interuniversity Basketball Tournament 2009 Tailors, Drivers, Loaders, Janitors, and the like. • International Day of Families 4 HE Aga Khan University participated in the prestigious The response from people of all • Communicating Through Gymnasium echoed with tournament were: these poorly paid professions was Music ……………………4 applause and shouts of joy as 1. Aga Khan University (AKU) that, the more educated the person the referee blew the whistle to end 2. Institute of – Contd. on P/8 • Mothers A Blessing of God 6 T got he/she – Contd. on P/15 the final match between • Learning for the Sake of CBM and GU. It was the Learning …………………7 supporters of Greenwich University who were • Workshop on Professional cheering hard to cele Teachers Development … 14 brate the victory of their • Taking Research Seriously …15 team in the 8th Aga Khan Interuniversity • Pakistan Ek Ishq, Ek Junoon16 Basketball Tournament • Greenwich Hosts 6th National 2009. Handball Championship.. 16 The universities which 1 GREENWICH UNIVERSITY Summer Semester 2009 nation is kept important. F Does not necessarily gauge per formance related improvements GreenwichiansA TripVisit Japan Credit to Rating JCR–VIS — Vital Information Services: on a time line in isolation. F To nullify conflicts arising out A National & International Levels Analysis Organization of the monetary relationship between the rater and the rated. REENWICH F To enhance transparency and M. Bilal Aftab, General Manager, University, along with efficiency in debt capital mar Ms. Sabeen Saleem, Chief Rating F The outlooks 'Positive', 'Stable' providing educational kets by reducing the informa Officer, and Ms.Sobia Maqbool, and 'Negative' qualify the Ginsight in all its disciplines, is also tion to achieve symmetry Senior Manager, gave a detailed potential direction which may endeavoring to equip students with between borrowers and lenders. presentation on the functions and change in future through rating the knowledge of related institu the techniques applied to formulate JCR VIS has two foreign offices changes. tions working in the country. proposals to mark the rating which and has carried out 774 issuers rat F is then presented before the com A 'Rating Watch' is announced ings including 67 of non resident and On the conclusion of the “Analysis mittee for a final declaration. when the status of the assigned 30 central government ratings. Its rating is uncertain. rating is recognized by the Securities The discussion that followed the & Exchange Commission USA and presentation also briefly touched FACTORS EFFECTING RATING Nationally Recognized Statistical upon the following: F Rating Organizations (NRSROs). Entity's operating environment How is the benchmarking of risks F RATING SCALE covered? Health and outlook of the economy Rating scales are meant to disclose F the ability to pay back at some The rating is eased by compar F Political outlook time in the future driven by per ison across a sector. F Trends in capital markets formance. F Consistency of rating denomi F Effectiveness of regulatory environment F External policy influences F Effectiveness of legal system The students and the faculty appre ciated and thanked the speakers by presenting a Greenwich University momento.n By Shahid Mahboob Lecturer of Financial Statements” course in F Contd. from P/1 Tour to Thailand April 2009 it was considered AAA ratings are assigned usu appropriate to end the session with ally to entities that enjoy for our students to visit two visited educational institutions a visit to an institution doing such strong government support renowned universities in Bangkok besides historical and cultural analysis for giving practical expo with maximum safety. where our students spent two days. highlights. The five star comforts sure to the students in understand F ing what they had learnt earlier. BBB ratings are expected to be The first leg of the trip was spent covered land sights, sea sport and exploring the cultural sights of river cruises as detailed by the Pattaya City and then coming to university. The tour began on Bangkok the group with faculty June 3, 2009 and lasted for one and administrative members week.n Most of the students’ eyes were focused on Japan Credit Rating more stable in the upper ratings Vital Information Services (JCR band. As it moves downward it VIS) carrying out local as well as becomes distinctly speculative international levels analysis in with low credit worthiness. order to give rating to a prospective F CCC ratings are predominantly institution. The JCR VIS is holding speculative and involve sub a licence, which is renewed every stantial risk or default. year based on its performance to F achieve the following objectives: DDD rating is the lowest, and F stands for default and is based To recommend to buy or sell a on historical events. security not on the basis of a predetermined formula but Highlights of the presentations and based on various quantitative discussion: and qualitative factors. 2 GREENWICH UNIVERSITY Summer Semester 2009 “ HE current global reces rich from Pakistan flew their doc sion will surely be the umented and undocumented longest and deepest since If Winter Comes, Can wealth abroad. Closest estimates theT 1930s.” suggest that over USD 3 billion The most talked about economic Spring Be Far Behind? dollars were moved by Pakistani issue, or perhaps social issue around What Pakistan lost out in the worst-ever Global Recession inhabitants during 2008. Pakistan the globe since July 2008 has been was left with just USD 4 billion 'the Global recession' or 'Financial since the 1930s and what can be done for the times ahead foreign reserves in November meltdown' or whatever you may call around 80 (i.e PKR 80 lent against centered regulatory environment 2008, a 15 day survival amount it. The fact of the matter is that it has a deposit of PKR 100), in India it of the West. This resulted in the for a country with over USD 50 changed the global socio economic was 110, in European countries it liquidation of Lehman Brothers, billion external debt and 160 mil and political scenario. was around 150 180 and in the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mae, finan lion people. cial paralysis of the Bank of America and Citibank. HSBC, RBS and Lloyds Bank tumbled. On the domestic front, no Pakistani Bank reported losses during this period. In fact for the year 2008 commercial banks made profits in excess of PKR 60 billion. World real estate markets collapsed due to the direct and indi rect effects of the sub prime phenomenon, even the UAE real estate proved to be the biggest bubble in GCC history No doubt, economic historians will U.S it was over 300. Consumer but the Pakistani real argue for years to come about the lending constitutes 16% of total estate market remained causes of the global financial crisis. domestic bank funding, in India it stable because of its The causal factors were the com is 25%, in European countries it is highly capitalized nature plex interaction of macroeconomic 75% and in the U.S it is 95%. The that survived the worst mismanagement, incomplete/ U.S figures might not be compre shocks. Global economies lenient financial regulation, and hensible but the fact is that the slowed down due to the financial What made us experience all this defective corporate governance. over leveraged financial system of crises. Interest rates were reduced devastation? Was it the financial the sole superpower of the world to lowest levels to stimulate system? The answer is very simple. Pakistan's economy is quite unique caused the meltdown. A debt of spending and economic activity A poor and indebted government, in nature, especially when com USD 3 million secured by an asset but in Pakistan, the SBP raised the weak and self centered national pared with the economies of the of USD 1 million shows the self interest rates by 400% in 2008 to managers, corrupt bureaucracy, U.S., Japan and Europe.