LAHORE: The girls again outshined boys in academics at the 13th convocation of the Government College University (GCU) here on Friday as they clinched prestigious academic medals for top positions in 18 of the 30 disciplines at the BA/BSc (Honors) and MA/MSc levels while boys grabbed most of medals and rolls of honour for excellence in co-curricular and sports activities.

Punjab Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan presided over the convocation proceedings in which 1,537 students received degrees, medals, rolls of honour and distinction certificates.

The convocation report highlighted that boys grabbed 17 of the 21 rolls of honour and five of the seven prestigious medals for their exceptional performance in co-curricular activities, including debates, drama and music.

Adnan Farooq was awarded the ‘Shahbaz Sharif Gold Medal’ for the best Urdu speaker of GCU. Zill-e-Huma received the ‘Dr Sadia Karamat Medal’ for best female graduate. Momin Yar Khalid was declared the overall outstanding intermediate student. Zahid Ali, Khwaja Yasin, Ahmed Chaudhry and Kinza Mumtaz also received prestigious co-curricular medals.

Only one female, Sadaf Mehmood, got the sports rolls of honour this year by winning various inter-universities’ competitions in rifle shooting.

The minister also presented the PhD degrees to 55 scholars in 10 disciplines including biotechnology and environmental sciences.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Khaleequr Rahman said with the start of 27 new academic programmes, including PhD computer sciences, PhD applied physics and PhD Islamic Studies, the overall student strength of the university had increased from 6,200 in 2011 to 11,557 in 2014.

“Last year around 34,000 students applied for admissions to various programmes and only 4,000 could be admitted on merit,” he said.

He said students from China, Japan, Korea and Turkey were also studying at the GCU.

Congratulating young graduates on receiving degrees, the vice-chancellor said they were expected to follow in the footstep of the legendary Old Ravians like Allama Muhammad Iqbal and Prof Abdus Salam.

“As you take great strides in practical life, you must not forget the huge debt that you owe to your alma mater and pay it back as much as you can. In fact, by doing so, you will be building up your own future,” he added.

Rana Mashhood congratulated the university faculty members on getting their three inventions patented from the United States Patent Office in a short period of only two years, saying it clearly indicated the excellence of research being done at the GCU.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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