KARACHI, March 3: About 275 graduates were conferred BSc and MSc degrees at the 8th convocation of the Federal Urdu Science College here on Monday.
In addition to shields, some of the graduates were also awarded gold medals and cash prizes, sponsored by individuals and private organizations, for securing merit positions in examinations.
The Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, who was the chief guest, gave away shields and medals to the graduates.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Karachi, Dr Zafar Saied Saify, conferred the degrees, while the Deputy Chair Senate and the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Dr Jamiluddin Aali, and Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, respectively; KU Dean Faculty of Sciences Prof Mohammad Altaf Khan and senior academicians, among others, were present on the occasion.
The Federal Urdu Science College, which has been given the status of a constituent college of the recently-chartered and established Federal Urdu University, held the convocation to honour its students who appeared in various master and bachelor degree examinations of the University of Karachi during the year 2002.
Dr Atta said that the new Urdu University was aimed to impart education in sciences and technologies in national language, which was a daunting task for all the quarters concerned.
“Now we would have to prove our worth and work outstandingly for recognition of our works in Urdu as well in the comity of nations,” he added, pointing out that the targets could be achieved only when merit alone was observed as the sole criterion for admissions, appointments and promotion of teachers at the university.
He mentioned that the government had planned to double the recurring grants of all the public sector universities in the country within a period of two years. Apart from enhancing the academic capabilities and performance of the universities, he added, the higher education commission was also addressing the higher education standard at colleges and preparing to advance the doctorate-level research works in colleges as, according to him, out of 7,000 college teachers only 500 were PhD degree-holders.
Earlier, Dr Saify said that the credits to establish the first Urdu University in the public sector, among others, went to the pioneers of Urdu, including Baba-i-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haq, Maulana Salahuddin, Major Aftab Hassan as well as Dr Jamiluddin Aali in the present day.
He said that now the university was required to develop courses of study and its implementation and preparation of course and reference books in Urdu, which was surely a challenging task.
If the university failed to deliver the good and adopt a well thought out and coordinated system for promotion of Urdu, the purpose of establishing the institution would remain unfulfilled, he added.
Dr Pirzada praised the role of Dr Atta in the establishment of the Urdu University. He informed the audience that the university had started works for launching the information technology and pharmaceutical marketing and management education, besides faculty development works.
The principal of the college, Prof Syed Salim Ahmad Razmi, said that following a visit by Gen Ziaul Haq in 1978, postgraduate education had been introduced at the Urdu College. Today the college has about 5,000 students, he said, mentioning that the students have also been securing top positions in the master and bachelor’s examinations conducted by the University of Karachi.
Those who were awarded college shields for securing first three positions in the exams were: MSc Chemistry - Kulsoom Hussain, Umm-i-Laila Zaidi and Khajista Samad;
Zoology - Nazneen Minhas, Kunwal Zaheer, Umm-i-Hani and Ghausia Shabbir; Botany - Musarrat Naz, Farheen Zulfiqar and Nargis Azeem; Geology - Nighat Ara, Moheed Jan and Sabiha Taqi and Mathematics - Hamid Mahmood.
BSc; Mohammad Nauman who was also awarded the Baba-i-Urdu Memorial prize of Rs5000 and Nabi Qasim Gold Medal for securing third positions in the varsity examinations.
Ms Kulsoom was awarded with Major Aftab Hassan Gold Medal for being the best student in the MSc classes. Five students of MSc were awarded with the Orient Advertising cash prizes of Rs4,000 each for securing first position in their examinations. They are: Nazneen, Nighat Ara, Hamid Mahmood, Musarrat Naz and Kulsoom Hussain.
KARACHI, March 3: About 275 graduates were conferred BSc and MSc degrees at the 8th convocation of the Federal Urdu Science College here on Monday.
