572 students awarded graduate degrees at Ziauddin University’s 16th convocation

Ziauddin University conferred on 572 degrees on the graduating students for various disciplines and also awarded Sir Ziauddin Gold Medals to the top nine position holders at the 16th convocation held at the Expo Centre on Friday.

The female students received more gold medals than male students. The gold medal recipients were Kashaf Aqeel Zaidi, Fatma Banday, Kiran Yameen, Sarah Abbas Merchant, Mubeen Aslam, Maryam Younus, Hafiza Laraib Abdul Malik, Sharmeen Patel and Mehak Altaf.

Addressing the convocation, chief guest Deputy Chairman Senate of Pakistan Saleem Mandviwalla congratulated the graduating students and their proud parents.

He acknowledged their success and stated: “I congratulate you and wish you every success as you take the final step before going out in the professional world to make a positive, visible and lasting difference.”

While conveying his good wishes to the parents of graduating students, Saleem Mandviwalla said: “I am confident that today’s graduating students will go on to earn many accolades, rewards and recognition for their work in the real world. Your investment in their future will pay many dividends for years to come.”

He appreciated all passing-out students and said whether it was in healthcare, medicine, allied health sciences, pharmaceutical sciences, engineering or any other field, people from Pakistan had made their mark on the world stage and were busy in research and technology in countries all over the world.

But still our country needs to produce intelligent minds, entrepreneurs, effective philanthropists and venture capitalists who will stoke the engines of growth in every community and every region, he remarked.

“Our real struggle should be for making the Pakistani society a knowledge-based society, which is considered to be most important for sustainable development in the country,” Mandviwalla said and added that education could be the change factor for this nation and the students could be the change-makers.

During the address whilst motivating the fresh graduates, he said: “S true professional never stops learning. Although the human anatomy has not changed much in the last 100 years or so, science has progressed by leaps and bounds. There may be new branches of learning and specialisation that did not exist 20 years ago.

“All this proves that the field is continually evolving. And so must you. Like life, work never truly comes to a stop. And remember to strive to be the best, for there is always room at the top. Striving to serve humanity will make this world a better place.” Appreciating the efforts of Ziauddin University and devoted faculty members, he said, “When it comes to institutions of higher learning like universities, the private sector has played a major role in transforming the landscape and Ziauddin University being a private sector university has come a long way and managed to emulate others with its expansion plans, in attaining goals with its own steam and always having this quest for excellence.

“The need of the hour is to impart quality education and Ziauddin University is doing well in that.” Chancellor Ziauddin University Dr Asim Hussain congratulated the recipients of the degrees and praised the efforts of students their parents and faculty of Ziauddin University for training students as par with international standards.

“It is now the time to celebrate and honour the untiring efforts and commendable accomplishments of our students and those who have taught and nourished them. Be proud of your strong will and hard work to achieve this benchmark and remember those who have supported you to reach this end: lecturers, peers, and especially your parents. I wish and hope that you will carry forward the legacy of Ziauddin University, and succeed in your future endeavors,” stated Dr Asim.

He motivated and appreciated the young graduates by saying: “You all have been associated with Ziauddin University for past few years and today I feel so proud of you to achieve a milestone set by you all. It shows that successfully you took another step towards a professional life. You all are now ready to serve for this country. My dear graduated it is just a new beginning; you are going to learn a lot more lessons from the world. Go out and conquer the world.”

Expressing his full confidence, he advised the students to work really hard for themselves, their families and their country. “You all are naturally blessed with intelligence and through Ziauddin University you have learnt expertise in different fields. Now I urge you to take advantage of it and contribute to this country because with each passing day, we march towards becoming a developed nation and as a youth of Pakistan your role is becoming increasingly important too.”

Dr Asim Hussain disclosed that Ziauddin University had introduced three more new faculties -- Faculty of Law, Faculty of Eastern Medicine & Natural Science, and Faculty of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences. For spreading knowledge far and wide, the ZU started its own school and college with Ziauddin University Examination Board.

He also exclaimed that recently Ziauddin University had organised a foundation stone-laying ceremony of the pharmacy block in the name of Sardar Yasin Malik at Education City.

During the last one year, we have successfully started Ziauddin University Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Technology (ZUFEST), including its departments, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Department of Software Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, and Department of Management Technology Sciences at the education city campus with brand new technologies in labs and classes, state of the art infrastructure, radio links having linkages to the city and also ensure all sewerage treatment plants at the campus.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui said that at this convocation 572 students would be conferred degrees.

Since the inception of Ziauddin University, more than 3,000 students had graduated and were doing well in serving the nation and abroad, he said, adding that all the academic programmes of ZU were accredited by the respective professional accrediting bodies and by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

Dr Siddiqui advised the graduating students to always keep in mind that you have taken the oath to abide by professional ethics and will always be ready to serve humanity, speak truthfully and practice your profession without prejudice for religion, nationality, race, political or social standing.