KARACHI, March 19: In all, 120 graduates were conferred degrees of MBA and MCS in person, while nine of them were awarded gold and silver medals at the 3rd convocation of the Bahria Institute of Management and Computer Science here on Tuesday.

Provincial finance minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was the chief on the occasion, while acting vice-chancellor of the University of Peshawar conferred degrees on the graduates in person and in absentia. Senior naval officials, parents of students, and educationists attended the convocation.

About 1,300 students are currently enrolled at the Karachi campus of the institute for BBA (Hons), BCS and MBA programmes. In his annual report, the director of the institute, Capt. (retd) Ahmed Zaheer, said the departments of Management and Computer Sciences at Karachi and Islamabad campuses had been established in 1995 where evening courses were being conducted in affiliation with the University of Peshawar for grant of Bachelor’s degree.

Master level courses were added in 1997 and now the departments have grown into a full-fledged state of the art institute with independent campuses in Karachi and Islamabad. The combined strength of students is 3,000, he added.

He said the institute has now come under the administrative and academic control of the Bahria University which came into being in February 2000 through promulgation of an ordinance by the President of Pakistan.

He claimed that adherence to the system of commitment, dedication and self-discipline had enhanced the acceptability of the graduates in the competitive job market and recently some of the graduates had acquired important positions, both in public and private sector organuizations.

Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh gave away medals and certificates to some of the graduates for their distinctive academic performance. Names of the award winners are:

Management Science: Maliha Hakim (Gold-MBA), Shaista Siddiq (Silver-MBA), Sonia Sami (Gold-MBA) and Saba Amjad (Gold-MBA).

Computer Sciences: Akber Ali (Gold-MCS), Faheem Javed (Gold-BCS Hons-MCS), Khurrum Jamshed (Gold-BCS Hons- MCS), Adnan Siddiqui (Gold-MCS) and Waqar Ahmed (Silver-MCS).

Dr Hafeez Shaikh stressed the need for a professionally trained manpower for the country to meet the challenges of the competitive world economy.

He urged the graduates to consider adopting a career in public service and advised them to make best efforts to achieve their goals, irrespective of the situation, as they were the privileged group of the society and could make the history.

The minister lauded the role of Pakistan Navy in promotion of education in the province. He said the name of Pakistan Navy and quality education in Sindh were inseparable.