Over 1,000 graduates awarded degrees at LUMS convocation

LAHORE: The 30th convocation of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) was held here on Saturday where the university’s largest batch to date was awarded degrees.

The ceremony presented a reunion of the entire university, with over 1,000 graduating students, their parents, staff and faculty from each school.

As many as 849 undergraduate and 252 graduates were honoured with degrees from the schools at LUMS. The high achievers were awarded medals and other awards. The year also marked the graduation of nine doctorate graduates, making it the highest number in the history of LUMS.

The ceremony was initiated in a ritualistic manner, with the entrance of the academic procession at the convocation venue. The procession included the students and faculty from all five schools; Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS), Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE), Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law (SAHSOL) and LUMS School of Education (SOE). Over 3,000 guests and faculty members came together to celebrate the fresh graduates on occasion.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr S. Sohail H Naqvi, presiding over his last convocation at LUMS welcomed the parents, students, the management committee members, trustees and the keynote speaker, Dr. Ishrat Husain, to the convocation.

He congratulated the graduating students. He said, “I am proud of my association with this uniquely talented LUMS family comprising the faculty, staff and students. It has been wonderful experience leading this special team and witnessing the spectacular growth of LUMS in research, innovation, knowledge exchange with business and industry and service to the community.”

Dr Ishrat Husain, the chief guest of the ceremony, motivated the batch to pursue their leadership goals, while embodying empathy and authenticity. He said “I have always held complete faith in our institutions, processes and the competence of our academia to take on the challenging role of service to its student communities providing quality education and competitive environments to realise professional learning objectives on the road to a future that ensures the wellbeing of Pakistan’s economy. And I can confidently say that LUMS continuously and significantly supports this objective.”

LUMS Rector Abdul Razzak Dawood also addressed the convocation. He thanked Prof Dr S. Sohail H. Naqvi for his endless efforts during his tenure for making the LUMS a world-class institute.

Dr Naqvi would be stepping down from the position of VC on August 1, 2018 to join the University of Central Asia (UCA) as its founding rector.