Federal Minister Akram Durrani, Dr. Nizamuddin, Saleem Ghouri, Hasan Murad, Saleem Ranjha, Abid Shirwani grace the event
Staff Report
LAHORE: As many as 430 graduates were awarded degrees in the 12th UMT Convocation held on April 16, 2016. Akram Khan Durrani, Federal Minister for Housing and Works and former Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkha, was the chief guest on the occasion. Prof. Dr. Nizamuddin, Chairman, Higher Education Commission, Punjab, Saleem Ghouri, CEO Netsol Technologies, Saleem Ranjha, Secretary, Benazir Income Support Program, and Abid H K Shirwani, Director General UMT, graced
the occasion as the guests of honor.
Addressing on the occasion, UMT Rector Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad welcomed the distinguished guests, graduates and their parents. He said that celebrating convocation symbolizes the rise of a new generation, the development of a mindset and the transition of young people confined to their educational institutions to the practical world. Dr. Hasan said,
“we now have 10,000 students, 453 full time faculty members including 120+ PhDs and a wide range of programmes ranging from the Social Sciences to Business Education, Engineering, Health Sciences, Textiles and much more.
He added that the UMT student body truly represents Pakistan as we have students coming from Interior Sind and Punjab, KPK Turbat, Balochistan, and other remote areas. UMT has a large
number of expatriate students from the Gulf region as well.
Dr. Hasan said that last year, 70 articles by UMT faculty members were
published in HEC recognized journals and 41 were impact factor. Dr. Hasan added that internationalization was also a major focus of UMT. At present, 20 faculty members are en-route to George Mason University, USA for faculty training and development. Prof. Bob Wheeler from USA would soon be taking over as Dean School of Business and Economics, and this will present a great learning opportunity to our students, the rector added.
Federal Minister for Housing and Works Akram Khan Durrani delivered the keynote address in the national language. He said that UMT has earned the respect and appreciation of the government secto
r on the basis of the high quality of education and the progress it has made over the years. The federal minister said that the degrees being awarded to the students actually belong to the people of Pakistan who have high hopes from this generation. “The UMT graduates are well equipped to play their key role in the development of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” he added.
Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairman Prof. Dr. Nizamuddin said that it was a pleasant change to be part of an evening convocation. He added that our universities must give degrees with marketable skills. He said that the nation can only benefit from CPEC fully if its university graduates are well equipped with the skills and expertise to run the numerous projects that are being launched.
It is worth nothing that UMT, a premier institution of higher learning in the country, is recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan as a ‘W4’ category (highest rank) university and offers 150+ bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes in diverse areas.
