The spotlight is on Dr. Basit Shafiq, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.

Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan’s leading university, was founded with the objective of fostering leadership skills across a wide range of subjects, ‘to create leaders and change makers who will confront and solve the most pressing challenges of today.’

Located in the city of Lahore, LUMS has five schools, including the Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE), the premier research institution for science and engineering in Pakistan. The hallmark of SBASSE is a no-boundaries philosophy, which encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration not only between its six departments, but also among the other schools.

The Department of Computer Science offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate courses in systems and security, software engineering, human-computer interaction, data science, and machine learning. The department encourages students to get involved in rigorous research alongside coursework and provides well-equipped labs for both.

Professor Basit Shafiq has taught several CS courses, including database systems, computer security, computer architecture, operating systems, algorithms, distributed systems, and service-oriented computing.

Shafiq holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Pakistan. In addition, he holds both a master’s degree and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, Indiana, USA. Prior to joining LUMS, he spent four years as a researcher at Rutgers University, New Jersey. Shafiq has published widely in technical journals and, in 2024, was joint winner of the IEEE Technical Community on Services Computing (TCSVC) Research Innovation Award for collaborative work on automating the design, development, and management of distributed business processes.

Oracle Academy: When did you start using Oracle resources?

Basit Shafiq: I have been using Oracle resources for a long time. During my graduate studies at Purdue University, where I served as a teaching assistant for database course, I started using Oracle version 7. Later, after joining LUMS in 2011, I downloaded Oracle version 12 through Oracle Academy for the database class I was teaching. I taught this course until 2017. In 2024, I returned to teaching database; this time using the Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) database and embracing the Oracle Academy Cloud Program.

Today, I use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) for all my courses and, to be honest, it has been the best teaching experience of my time at LUMS!

Other faculty already use the database and Java curriculum in their data management and programming courses. Currently I am advocating the use of Oracle Cloud throughout the department and have set up Oracle Cloud accounts for a number of colleagues. They are assessing how best to incorporate the resources into their teaching.

Oracle Academy: Please talk us through your use of Oracle Cloud.

Basit Shafiq: My principal course, Database Systems, aims to impart hands-on experience in database programming and web application development. I have over 200 students, split into two classes, each of which has been allocated an Oracle Cloud account. They work on a three-phase project culminating in the creation of an electricity billing application, a real-life scenario. They start by spinning up a virtual instance of the Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) Database. Then they create database schemas and populate tables using SQL scripts. This phase focuses on mastering complex SQL queries involving joins, nested queries, and aggregate functions to manipulate and retrieve data effectively.

Next, I teach them how to use PL/SQL for writing stored procedures and functions to handle more complex data operations. This includes creating procedures for automated data processing tasks, which are fundamental in managing backend logic for enterprise applications. In this exercise, they use PL/SQL to compute bills for different customers based on their monthly electricity consumption.

The final phase challenges students to develop a fully functional web application that interacts with their database. This involves integrating a three-tier architecture of web server, application server and a database server. The billing application they have built invokes the previously developed SQL queries and PL/SQL procedures to retrieve data from the database and display the result in a user interface. All of this is carried out through Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and the Oracle ATP database.

Oracle Academy: That’s indeed a hands-on way to teach apps development.

Basit Shafiq: It’s been successful, and this semester I’m expanding it to my Computer Security course, which emphasises secure software development. Most students already will have been exposed to OCI through the utility billing app they created. Now what they learn is how to implement authentication and access control on top of the application web server. Using the OCI security features shows them how to cope with vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers, simulating cross-site requests or cross-site scripting and other cyber attack methods.

Oracle Academy: That sounds like an action-packed agenda. Do you have a roadmap for extending the use of Oracle Academy resources?

Basit Shafiq: My next objective in Computer Security is to go deeper into system-level security training. I aim to develop applications that are free of security vulnerabilities and ensure they utilize secure communications and encryption modules for data protection.

Other than that, I am considering utilizing Oracle Academy resources to deliver short training courses for professionals. Although the details are not yet finalized, I am exploring ways to leverage the experience gained from Oracle Academy to provide cloud-based training that will benefit both the university and professionals looking to reskill.

Oracle Academy: Good move. Can you tell us about the benefits of Oracle Cloud on the compute side?

Basit Shafiq: It’s been a wonderful experience both in terms of administration and in providing seamless accessibility for students. Accessing Oracle ATP has made life 100% easier compared to the days of hassling with on-premises databases. With the compute power of Oracle Cloud, having 200 or more students working on the same project on the same server is simplicity itself. Gone are the days of debugging, rebooting, calls in the middle of the night begging IT to open the database port or app server port on their firewall. And let’s not forget, we get access to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure free of charge.

Oracle Academy: Do you use the Oracle Academy Member Hub?

Basit Shafiq: Yes, I do. The Member Hub has valuable information and videos that help me prepare my lectures; for example, an excellent video tutorial for the Oracle NoSQL Database Cloud Service. These resources are extremely useful for students to learn by themselves.

Oracle Academy: What are your overall takeaways?

Basit Shafiq: Oracle Academy significantly enhances my courses, exposing students to the cloud technologies and database systems used in the industry. It gives them hands-on experience that helps bridge the gap between academic learning and successful careers in technology. It not only boosts the teaching but also takes the load off our university servers, with Oracle Cloud accounts giving students anytime-anywhere access.

But just as important, for me, is the support. Oracle Academy’s first-rate support team is a real differentiator over other cloud platform providers. They recently helped me to create accounts for over 300 students.

Oracle Academy: That’s good to know. Lastly, how do you balance teaching with a constant flow of research papers, not to mention your activities at Rutgers and the IEEE?

Basit Shafiq: All I can say is that at LUMS, research is in our DNA. The objective of our research and academic program is to produce graduates who will contribute to the technology infrastructure development of the country, advance the field through knowledge creation and dissemination, and serve the critical needs of society. SBASSE has consciously modelled itself along the lines of the world’s top research schools, believing that research nurtures the knowledge and logical thinking that will guarantee successful careers.

Oracle Academy: And outside of teaching?

Basit Shafiq: I love swimming, and the campus has a great swimming pool, so that’s a nice way to relax. I also do a lot of bike riding. Apart from that, my family and friends are a good antidote to wearing the mortar board!

Thank you, Dr. Basit Shafiq, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.