892 graduates awarded degrees at IBA convocation

A good 892 degrees were awarded at the convocation of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Karachi, on Saturday.

The degrees were awarded for BBA, BS (Accounting and Finance), BS (computer Sciences), MBA, BS (social sciences and liberal arts), MSc (Maths) and MSc (Economics).

Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, who was the chief guest, addressing the fresh graduates, said: “Life will pose many challenges and it is challenges that make it worth living.”

He continued, “The IBA has lit the torch of knowledge within you. Attainment of knowledge should be a life-long process.”

He exhorted the graduates never to compromise on integrity, saying that the sad thing in the case of Pakistan was that integrity was very often compromised.

Citing the case of China, he said China’s unprecedented, phenomenal progress was owed the fact that China banked wholly and solely on the human resource. “Discover the talents within you,” he said.

“Knowledge today is the key driver of socio-economic development, “he said.

Dr Rehman advised the young people to be skeptical and never to blindly accept the printed word. He advised them to be inquisitive and said that that was the key to research which today was the edifice of all knowledge. “Don’t just tread the trodden path. Explore new avenues. Have a questioning attitude.”

He stressed the indispensable importance of higher education. Today, he said, innovation was the key word. In this context, he cited the case of certain materials that made things invisible. He said that within another 10-15 years from now, petrol-driven cars would be a thing of the past. He also cited nano technology and stem cell technology which would be applied in the case of revolutionary medical treatment for damaged hearts and livers.

He cited the mind-boggling neuro-sciences technology of today which would make revolutionary changes in the treatment of brain disorders.

“We are living in a world today where truth is stranger than fiction,” he said and exhorted the fresh graduates to keep abreast of all such developments because it was these mind-boggling developments that would bring about socio-economic development.

Earlier, Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair, also an alumnus of the IBA, congratulating the fresh graduates, said that as flag-bearers of a golden legacy, they were expected not only to become ambassadors of the institute but also to excel in every sphere.

He narrated how the IBA had become an institution to reckon with on a global scale and how its graduates were holding plum positions in reputed international organisations.

He stated that on one of his visits to New York a couple of years ago, the vice-president of the New York Stock Exchange turned out to be an IBA (Karachi) graduate.

Welcoming the guest, new graduates and their parents/guardians, Dr Farrukh Iqbal, dean of the institute, mentioned the broadening of the academic base at the IBA with the introduction of social sciences and liberal arts, accounting and finance, and economics and maths over the last five years.

He highlighted the diversity of the institute, saying that students were selected from the far-flung, hitherto neglected areas of Pakistan through its Talent Hunt Programme and were provided free-of-cost education.

Thousands of professionals, he said, had benefited from the short courses and diplomae offered by the institute at its many centres of excellence.