KARACHI, Feb 28: Like previous years, once again the Karachi University would not be able to award gold medals to all its meritorious graduates of 2002 examinations, merely owing to paucity of funds.

The 17th convocation of Karachi University is being held on March 1.

In the previous convocation, about 350 candidates were awarded degrees, while 55 gold medals were awarded to top position-holders of different teaching departments.

This year, the university would be awarding about 575 degrees, and the number of gold medals would be around 59.

The gold medals have been arranged through income from various endowments, sponsored by outside agencies, including philanthropists, industries and other organizations and individuals. However, the number of gold medals is not enough to meet the requirements of over 90 top position-holders of honours and masters’ class examinations, and thus a number of meritorious students have to return without a gold medal on the occasion of convocation.

The vice chancellor of the university, Dr Zafar Saied Saify, told this scribe that the university was unable to bear all the expenses incurred on the preparation of gold medals required for graduates of all bachelor and master class examinations of the varsity departments.

“We cannot alone bear the huge financial implications and looked towards philanthropists and other organizations for endowments”, he added.

He informed that income provided by some of the endowments created years back were so nominal that those alone cannot meet the cost of gold medals and that’s why university had to supplement for many of the gold medals from its own exchequer.

He said he understood the sense of deprivations that could took place among the meritorious graduates, and was already in negotiations with well-off and influential individuals to muster financial support for instituting gold medals, particularly in the name of former vice chancellors of the university.

At present the university requires Rs 0.15mn for each new gold medal endowment. The medal is made of one tola of 18 karats gold and costs Rs8,000 to 9,000 in the finished form.

Defending the university, an official said under the university code, there is no obligation on the varsity to award gold medals to distinguished graduates, and some other public universities were also doing this while relying on their own funds.

He maintained that under the rules, the university needed to arrange the gold medals for the outstanding holders of D. Litt or DSc degrees only.

Another teacher said that about 35 years back the amount of endowment for the medals ranged between Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,000, and if the university convocations had been held every year during the last over 50 years, it would have been difficult for the university to continue with certain medals due to nominal income from related endowments.

It was further learnt that some years back, a vice chancellor had planned to revive the endowment system for gold medals in view of the insufficient endowments available with the university. It was proposed that through advertisements the philanthropists would be approached purposefully, but the plan could not materialise.

A person at the helm of affairs said that normally students having secured first position or distinction at any level resorted to find sponsors for medals from within their near and dears, otherwise no genuine efforts could be made in the past by the university. The sponsors are free to formulate criteria.

Referring to the existing practices in the case of gold medals, a senior teacher said sponsors should just offer amount for endowment for gold medals and not suggest the name of recipients or any particular department, as at present some of the graduates were in a position to get more than one medal, while some students did not receive any medal at all, despite all qualifications and flying marks, which ultimately annoyed others, the teacher observed.

In all, 68 gold medals, with merit certificates, would be awarded to students, including only 10 bachelor degree holders. Twenty-seven gold medals would go to the arts faculty graduates, while another 31 to science graduates, four to pharmacy, two to Islamic Studies faculty, two to business administration and commerce faculty.

D Litt, DSc medals: Professors Dr Bina Shaheen Siddiqui would be awarded gold medal for DSc (Chemistry) and Prof Dr Moinuddin Aqeel would be awarded gold medal for D Litt (Urdu). The university would also confer an honorary doctorate degree to noted writer Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi, another about 80 persons would be conferred PhD and MPhil degrees, at the convocation, which would be presided over by the Sindh Governor.