1,417 graduates awarded degrees at UVAS convocation

LAHORE: The 10th convocation of University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, was held here on Wednesday.

Pro-Chancellor/Minister for Punjab Livestock & Dairy Development Department Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak presided over the convocation while Adviser to Chief Minister on Livestock Faisal Hayat Jabwana, Livestock & Dairy Development Secretary Muhammad Ahsan Waheed and a large number of students, faculty members, industrialists from dairy & poultry industries and other stakeholders were also present.

Total 1,417 graduates were awarded degrees and 72 position holder graduates were awarded medals. Out of the graduating students, 230 were DVMs, 356 BS (Hons), 90 Pharm-D, 26 Doctors of Nutrition and Dietetics (DND), 48 MBAs, 4 MBF, 37 BBA (Hons), 194 MSc, 399 MPhil and 33 PhDs.

Addressing the convocation, Sardar Hasnain Bahadur congratulated the graduates on getting degrees and medals and urged them to play their due role in nation building. He lauded the progress achieved by the UVAS.

The minister said that livestock had great potential for growth and the government was taking revolutionary steps for its development. He said the government was focusing provision of safe and healthy livestock products to the masses. He urged the UVAS scientists to expedite their efforts to meet the challenge of food insecurity and malnutrition.

Earlier, the pro-chancellor along with the vice-chancellor gave away degrees to PhD scholars and medals to the position-winning graduates.

VC Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha spoke about the academics, research, development, extension programmes and community services of the university. He said that with a history of 136 years of excellence, the UVAS had now positioned itself among top Asian universities according to the Higher Education and QS World Universities Rankings.

According to the Higher Education Commission Sports Ranking 2018, UVAS got third position among public sector universities of Pakistan and fifth among all public and private universities of the country, the VC said, adding that the UVAS was also among top 10 universities of Pakistan according to HEC overall ranking of Pakistani higher education institutions.

Prof Pasha said that UVAS was swiftly achieving the milestones of need-based multi-level education and establishing itself as talent development institution by using its knowledge, resources and skills for growth of human resources.

He said the UVAS had already secured affiliation of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges and was in the process of getting its accreditation.He informed the audience that UVAS scientists were executing 141 research projects worth Rs 1.5 billion won by the faculty members from national and international funding agencies.

He said that the university was executing five development projects worth Rs 4 billion and had completed as many projects of Rs 882 million last financial year.The VC said the UVAS was uniquely structured to provide a wide range of services to the community, including farmers, public and private stakeholders and the industry.

The noteworthy services are diagnostics facilities, vaccine production, 24/7 clinical and extension services, consultancy and advisory services and policy framework, he said.He said that the UVAS encouraged its students by providing them with incentives, including merit and need-based scholarships.

UVAS awarded 1,162 scholarships worth Rs 54 million during the last year, he added. He said the university gave a lot of emphasis on the development of physical and mental faculties of its students to make them responsible and productive citizens.

He said that the university had imparted practical training to 7,244 officers/officials from the Livestock & Dairy Development Department and farmers for their capacity building last year.The Center for Applied Policy Research in Livestock organised different consultative meetings and advocacy in policy meetings for poultry, meat and dairy sector that is also practically influencing national economic policies. UVAS is assuming a new role as an effective think tank, the VC said.