Over 5,000 Karachi university students receive degrees

Over 5,000 Karachi university students receive degrees
Karachi: The University of Karachi held its 21st convocation on Tuesday in which over 5,000 students received degrees.

Some 74 gold medals were awarded to top students in various disciplines. Girl students received 55 of the 74 gold medals awarded on Tuesday.

The convocation was attended by KU alumni, foreign dignitaries, teachers, students and their parents.

The chancellor of the university, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, however, was conspicuous by his absence.

It is the third consecutive year that he could not make it to the event, although he was the chief guest.

A total number of 5,166 students were awarded degrees - 630 in BA (Hons) BLIS, 1,352 in MA/MLIS, 22 in BA (Hons) Islamic learning, 107 in MA Islamic learning, 159 in BBA/B.Com/BPA (Hons), 489 in MBA/M.Com/MPA/MAS, 165 in D.Pharm, 38 in M.Pharm, 735 in BS/BS.c (Hons), 1,281 in MSc/MCS.

Besides, 187 students were awarded MS, M.Phil, MD and PhD degrees. Of the total 5,166 students, about 1,015 had taken evening courses.

The recipients of the gold medals in the faculty of arts are: Farjad Ali (two gold medals), Maria Malik, Saira Shaikh, Shehla Naqvi, Aliza Batool, Saima Naseer, Maheen Qureshi (two gold medals), Mubusshrah Shafiq, Samra Sarfaraz Khan, Neha Ansari, Sarah Raza, Syeda Sadia Naz, Haya Fatima Iqbal, Rahat Kamal, Saba Syed, Nida Sarfaraz, Syeda Qaima Qaiser Ghazali, Komal, Saira Batool, Naila, Mashhood Hussain, Farzana Hussain, Humaira Zubair, Raheela Yousuf, Namra Asif, Jameela Saeed ul Khair and Alia Anwar.

Faculty of science: Kahkashan Nawaz, Sajid Ali, Rizwana Malik, Mariam Sophie, Hina Asrar, Noureen Fatima, Sana Gul (two gold medals), Safi Asim Bin Asif (three gold medals), Mohammad Rashid, Tayyaba Abid, Sania Sultana, Fahdila Azam, Hira Naz (two gold medals), Kausar Noor, Jawad Ahmed Ansari, Shaffaq Jawaid Kurd, Sadaf Shakeel, Syed Amir Mahmud, Sidra Arshad, Madiha Hafeez, Mohammad Kamran, Faizan Mirza, Usama Farooq, Mohammad Najamuddin, Nazia Arshad and Saman Mehboob (two medals) received gold medals.

Faculty of pharmacy: Sana Sarfaraz received four gold medals.

Faculty of Islamic studies: Hafiza Maria Hassan Padhiar, Hafiz Faiz Rasool, Rouqaia Anwar received gold medals.

Faculty of management and administrative sciences: Shumaila Khalil, Faiza Hina, Sarah Anjum, Syed Raza Naim (two gold medals) and Sana Raees received gold medals.

Dr Ishratul Ibad in his message read out by KU registrar Prof (Dr) Mohammad Raees Alvi congratulated both students and teachers and expressed the hope that they would continue to strive for achieving the best academic standards in future as well.

Highlighting achievements of the university, KU Vice Chancellor Prof (Dr) Pirzada Qasim said that the institution had grown remarkably over the years and the student enrolment had risen from 19,000 to 24,000 in the past five years.

The number of faculty members had also increased from 623 to 826 during the same period, he said.

"Along with the number of students and teachers, the standard of education has also improved. The university is ranked 23rd in the field of natural sciences in the world, according to a survey conducted by the Times Higher Education 2009. The QS World University Ranking 2009 has placed the KU in the list of top 600 universities," he said.

"The Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utilization at the university," he said, "is the first of its kind in the world".

"That's why the Unesco chair in sustainable halophyte utilization has recently been established at the institute. A number of projects in collaboration with foreign universities are also under way on the campus."

Giving some facts about the KU status, he said that there were 24,000 students acquiring education at the university which had nine faculties, 54 departments and 21 research institutes and centres of excellence.

Around 150,000 students were enrolled at affiliated colleges, he said. Till 2009, 1,034 PhD degrees had been awarded and a total of 2,500 postgraduate students were involved in research on the campus, he said.

Besides, 695 of KU research papers had been published in international journals during the past two years, he informed the audience. Dawn

Record number of degrees awarded
Karachi: The university awarded degrees to a record number of 5,166 students, including 1,015 from the Evening Programme. The degrees conferred included 630 for BA (Hons) and BLIS students; 1,352 for MA/MLIS; 1,281 for M.Sc./MCS.

A total of 68 MS, M.Phil and MD and 120 PhD degrees were awarded in Medicine, Arts, Pharmacy, Science, Islamic Learning, Law and Management and Administrative Sciences.

Gold Medals offered by various individuals and companies were awarded to 74 meritorious students who had excelled in their respective examinations.