KARACHI: As many as 127 students graduated from Habib University (HU) at their second convocation held at the university on Saturday.

The graduating students included 73 from HU’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and 54 from the Dhanani School of Science and Engineering. It was a memorable occasion with the graduates posing for photographs in their white gowns and matching caps against the decorated walls.

Sharing glimpses of their experiences at the university throughout the four years that they spent there, valedictorian Maisam Hyder Ali thanked all his teachers while giving them all the credit for his success. “We are not ending our educational career here,” he said. “We are actually starting a new phase in life equipped with the education given to us at this university.”

‘Your identity is the result of a multidisciplinary make-up like many different strands woven together’

The commencement speaker, renowned Iranian-American writer Dr Reza Aslan said that he was seven years old when he left Iran with his family during the Iranian Revolution to go to the US, where he used to see anti-Iran demonstrations. “I spent a good part of the 1980s hiding my identity to fit in that society. I used to tell people that I was Mexican instead of telling that I was Iranian,” he said.

“But then I went to university. That’s where I learnt to question things. I realised that it was difficult to say who you are but easy to say who you aren’t. That’s when I promised myself to never define myself against anyone else. I would never declare who I wasn’t. Instead, I would discover who I was,” he said.

“So who are you?” he asked. “I leave you with this question as it lies at the heart of so many conflicts that we are seeing all over the world. The identity crisis that has gripped people is rooted in our inability to define ourselves. Only you can answer the question about who you are,” he pointed out.

“You are a member of an extremely small group. You are a college graduate. But your degree, nationality, religion does not define you. Your identity is the result of a multidisciplinary make-up like many different strands woven together.” he added.

Earlier, Wasif Rizvi, president of the HU, said that the university had started a mission dedicated to transforming higher education in Pakistan. He lauded the role played by the Habib family for helping make Pakistan’s first Liberal Arts and Sciences university into a reality and that this year’s graduating batch exemplified the university’s commitment to providing world-class undergraduate education to students from diverse backgrounds.

“All of you graduating today are the Pioneers of this university. Through your dedication to academic excellence you have helped us become a community that has spread around the world,” he said while further stating that Habib’s students are now being lauded by partner institutes such as UC Berkley, Stanford University and the University of Michigan as among the best in the world.

The patron of the university, governor of Sindh Imran Ismail reminded the graduates of what the university had done for them. “You are indebted to your university and you must give back and spread the good,” he said.

The governor also said that there were graduates who leave the country and make a success of themselves abroad who can also pay back by investing in Pakistan.

HU chancellor Rafiq M. Habib gave the closing address in which he expressed his heartfelt congratulations to the second graduating batch. The chancellor spoke about how important a role education has played in the House of Habib’s philosophy and philanthropic efforts. He thanked this year’s graduates for their puting footprints and adding to the legacy of Habib University.

The Chancellor’s Yohsin Award, the most prestigious award at the convocation, given to the graduate who has not only excelled academically, but has demonstrated the qualities of the university’s philosophy of Yohsin through their meta-curricular activities on and off campus, was given to Maisam Hyder Ali.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2019