LAHORE : Punjab University’s 130th convocation was held here on Saturday in which a total of 1,166 degrees and medals were awarded to the graduating students. Of these 289 were PhD degrees, 123 MS/MPhil, 67 Master’s, 75 undergraduate degrees while 343 medals and 9 prizes were distributed among students.
Speaking at the convocation ceremony PU Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad urged the students to understand their responsibilities and contribute towards the development of Pakistan as well as society.
Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, Registrar Dr M Khalid Khan, Controller of Examinations M Rauf Nawaz, Additional Controller Raja Shahid Javed, members of PU Senate, Syndicate, senior faculty members and a large number of students participated in the event.
Prof Niaz Ahmad further said that rigorous efforts had been put in higher education institutions of Pakistan due to which they were making rapid progress in the world. Otherwise, he said, the universities in Pakistan could have faced the same fate which our other national public sector institutions were suffering from. He said that it was his dream to bring PU among the top 500 institutions of the world and he started efforts for this in 2018.
PU VC further said that for the first time in 2018, PU’s 3 subjects were ranked at international level and now in 2021, Punjab University had become the only university in Pakistan whose 13 subjects had been ranked and in the subject of petroleum engineering, PU had been ranked among top 100-150 institutions in the world. He said that for these landmark achievements, a number of initiatives had been taken in the university.
He said that the number of professors and associate professors had never crossed the figure of 70 each but now we have more than 150 professors and 150 associate professors at the same time. He said that the university had given special attention to those research projects which aimed at solving socio-economic problems and contributed towards national development. Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar also spoke on the occasion.
Later, PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad presented a special souvenir to Registrar Dr M Khalid Khan for his services in the university as he would retire on December 31. Akmal Soomro and his brother Akram Soomro were also awarded PhD degrees in the convocation.