271 degrees awarded at SMIU convocation

The second convocation of the Sindh Madressahtul Islam University (SMIU) was held at the Convention Centre of the Golf Club, DHA, in which 271 students in five disciplines were conferred with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and provincial minister for women development Shehla Raza awarded gold and silver medals to 15 meritorious students. Governor Ismail said it was an honour for him to be present at the convocation of an educational institution where Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had received his early education and where the father of the nation spent most of his academic life’s years.

“No other educational institution could be more prestigious than the Sindh Madressatul Islam University where my leader, the founder of Pakistan, had been enrolled.”

He advised the students who had completed their education at the SMIU to chase their dreams as they liked, but those dreams should not be dreamed without Pakistan.

He said the country had produced great brains, yet a dominant majority of them would migrate to other countries at the expense of Pakistan. “Pakistan deserves to offer success stories to the world, which we have not been able to do over the years for one reason or another. But you should come forward and become inspiration for the generations to follow.”

He said the outgoing students owed a lot to the country and it was the payback time. He said loving and contributing better things to the country was part of the partnership every citizen had with one’s motherland. He added that the students should enter various fields, including economy, politics and arts, and set examples for the world. He invited the students to visit the Governor House and witness the Quaid-e-Azam’s office, which had been preserved and offered the Quaid’s life to look at. Besides, he also advised the women development minister to help students visiting the Sindh Assembly.

Vice Chancellor SMIU Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh said the governor was keen to play his role in higher education in the province.

Dr Shaikh said the Sindh Madressatul Islam was the second school founded by Hassanally Effendi in 1885 to impart modern education to Muslims a decade after Aligarh School.

He said the Sindh Madressatul Islam upgraded to the status of college by the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah himself and was made a university in 2012 as per the aspiration of the founder of the nation. He said the Quaid-e-Azam had so much love for Sindh Madressatul Islam that he bequeathed it a third of his property.

Dr Shaikh spoke about the university’s leadership programme, under which students were exposed to top functionaries in Islamabad and four countries -- China, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Turkey.

He said 90 per cent of the first batch of the university which passed last year had already got jobs. Similarly, a large number of students who had graduated this year had got job offers. He said the university had got a vacated an encroached plot on its premises where two six-storey blocks were being constructed, which would accommodate another 3,000 students along with the existing 2,000 pupils.

He said the Sindh government had allotted a plot to the university in Karachi Education City in Malir, for which the federal government had allocated Rs1.57 billion for its first phase, which would complete in 30 months. The scheme of Malir Campus of the SMIU would complete in a decade in three phases. “It will accommodate another 18,000 students,” said Dr Shaikh.

Besides, another 10-acre plot allotted by the Sindh government in Hawkesbay area was being used to establish a Silicon Valley-like facility which would provide education and research in information and communication technology. It would accommodate another 5,000 students. “Thus, more than 28,000 students will be enrolled with our university after a decade.”

Women Development Minister Shehla Raza said what made her happier was that a significant number of female students were among the graduates. She offered the university’s final-year female students to join the career counselling programme being offered by the women development department.

Out of 271 students who were awarded degrees, 142 graduated in the bachelor’s programme and another 129 in the master’s programme. Some 194 students were male and 77 were female.

Eight meritorious students were awarded with gold medals, six of them were female. Another seven were bestowed with silver medals, four of them were female.