Syed Muhammed Junaid Zaidi ( ur, ); known as S. M. Junaid Zaidi (born 19 July 1949) is a Pakistani

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and educator. He is the founding rector of the

COMSATS University Islamabad The COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), formerly known as COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), is a public university in Pakistan. It is a multi-campus university with its principal seat located in Islamabad. Comsats was envisio ...

. Junaid Zaidi(S.I,H.I) took the post of the Executive Director of Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development ( COMSATS) in Islamabad, Pakistan on February 27, 2017.

Early life and education

Junaid Zaidi was born in Rawalpindi in 1949. After getting his master's degrees in Mathematics and Physics from the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

, in 1981 he got another degree in Operations Research from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. He completed his doctoral work at the

in 1984, specializing in optimization of algorithms on networking. On July 19, 2012, Lancaster University, UK, conferred on Zaidi the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science.

Positions held

He has served the government of Pakistan as the Director General of the National Center for Technology Transfer, (1991–95) and as "Scientific Secretary & Chief S&T" with the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (1995–98). From 1998 to 2017 he was the Founder Rector of the

(CUI), which was awarded Charter by the Government of Pakistan in 2000.COMSATS FOUNDATION-STONE LAYING AND UNIVERSITY STATUS FOR CIIT
Science Vision Quarterly (magazine) website, July–September 2000 issue, Retrieved 27 October 2019 After retiring from CUI, he is serving as the Executive Director of COMSATS, since March 2017.

Awards and recognition

Sitara-i-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

(Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan in 2006. *

Hilal-i-Imtiaz The ''Hilaal-e-Imtiaz'' (; ), also spelled and transliterated as Hilāl-e-Imtiyāz, is the second-highest (in the hierarchy of "Hilal") civilian award and honour given to both civilians and military officers of the Pakistan Armed Forces by the ...

(Crescent of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan in 2015. * The NCR Corporation award “IT Pioneer 1987-1995” in the year 2000. * Doctorate of Science Honoris Causa,

University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...

, 2012. * Al-Farabi gold medal, awarded by the Academic Council of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU), 2018. * ''Center of Islamic Finance - Special Award'' in 2017

Allegations

Dr S. M. Junaid Zaidi served as the chairman of the controversial

National Testing Service National Testing Service - Pakistan (NTS) is a nonprofit organization in Pakistan that administers academic performance evaluation tests. It is similar to Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States. NTS is a member of the Internat ...

(NTS) for over 15 years. He got embroiled in a corruption and malpractice scandal of the NTS and faced charges in the accountability court. Dr Junaid Zaidi has also come under severe criticism from a parliamentary committee, a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for his central role in the controversial Dual Degree programme (DDP) which was started illegally without the approval of Higher Education Commission and put at stake the future of 2,532 students. There have been allegations of money-laundering of nearly 6 million Pounds in the DDP case which is being investigated by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). In 2018, the Minister of State for Science & Technology, Mir Dostain Khan Domki, claimed in the media that Comsats University and NTS were being run by a "mafia" who were involved in corruption.Pakistan Times - ‘Mafia’ within Comsats, NTS, S&T ministry afraid of getting exposed, says minister
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References

External links

Founder rector of CIIT
Founder rector of CIIT
Profile Of The Executive Director (S. M. Junaid Zaidi) on COMSATS.ORG website
1949 births Living people Pakistani educators Pakistani information theorists Pakistani scientists University of the Punjab alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham People from Rawalpindi District Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz {{Pakistan-bio-stub