RAWALPINDI, March 10: Nust Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) on Saturday awarded degrees to 152 IT graduates of BIT-3 and BIT-4 courses. The convocation was held at the auditorium of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering College, Peshawar Road.

Poonam Haq and Umair Shafiq of BIT-3 won President and Rector gold medals for the best in academics and the best project respectively. In BIT-4 these medals were obtained by Huda Abdul Aziz and Muhammad Asif.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Akram Shiekh congratulated the young graduates and urged them to keep working hard for future achievements. He advised the students against lying idle as this was an IT-oriented world with full of opportunities.

Lauding the efforts of NIIT faculty and Rector Nust Lt-Gen (retired) Syed Shujaat Hussain, the minister said the contribution of the Nust and its constituent colleges had made a mark on IT field. NIIT has contributed a lot in dissemination of scientific and engineering knowledge in the country and has created for itself an exclusive niche in the field of high value research in different fields of technology.

Dr Shiekh said the government was earnestly committed to facilitating promotion of higher education and research in scientific and technical fields and had risen its GDP spending on education from 2.6 to 4 percent.

Addressing the gathering Rector Nust Syed Shujaat Hussain congratulated the recipients of the degrees and medals. He said Nust wanted the successful graduates to be capable IT professional and civilised citizens.

Dr Arshad Ali Director General NIIT in his address of welcome said that during the seven years of its existence NIIT had performed amazingly well. He apprised the audience that his institute put high premium on students and faculty an urge for creativity.