Vice Chancellor Dr. Niaz Ahmad urges students to go for social entrepreneurship and resolve issues

Report: By Ali Afzal Khan

LAHORE: (Tuesday, November 27, 2018): Punjab University Directorate of Students Affairs (DSA) organised a grand welcome ceremony in the honour of the newly admitted students at Faisal Auditorium here on Tuesday. The chief guest of the programme was Father of Pakistan nuclear assets and renowned scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, but he could not come due to his ailment, as stated by the vice chancellor and the event organizers.

However, the jam-packed audience of students gave him standing ovation in abstention and made prayers for his early recovery and better health. Rich tributes were paid to him for his great services to the nation.

The vice chancellor announced that AQ Khan promised to grace the ceremony and address the students of PU and the administrat

ion had made arrangements, large flexes and pictures with the posters of the nuke scientist were displayed in the whole campus. The students from all 70 plus departments thronged to the Faisal Auditorium to see a glimpse of the national hero.  Only those students could manage to get seats in the hall who reached there before 9:30 am. A large number of students were sitting outside the venue where LED screens were fixed to make the show possible for them.

Former captain of Pakistan Cricket Team Misbah Ul Haq, Poet Amjad Islam Amjad, Poet Mansoor Afaq, Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad, Director Students Affairs Dr. Asmatullah, Registrar Dr. Muhammad Khalid Khan, President ASA Dr Mehboob Hussain, Deans, senior faculty members and a large number of students were present.

While addressing the event, Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad said that PU was introducing Social Entrepreneurship Centre to resolve social problems and generate employment opportunities for its graduate. Prof Niaz said that the students must identify the problem in their relevant area, present a solution and prepare a plan to convert it into a business activity. He said that PU administration would fund such projects which would provide employment opportunities to the students. He said that higher education institutions were meant for creation of new knowledge and innovations and producing a civilized society. He said that our country was full of talent in all fields and youth must come forward for playing their role for development of Pakistan. He said that out of the population of 22 crores, 12 crore consis

ted of youth, which was an asset for Pakistan. He said that the employment opportunities in Pakistan were more than the opportunities available in developed countries.

He said that Pakistan Army is the number one Army in the world and we had fought tough circumstances in the last 20 years. He said that merit was prevailing in the country and judiciary must be saluted for its active role. He said that the administration would make efforts to bring PU among the top-ranked universities of the world and for this purpose, all the stakeholders connected with PU must work as team. He said that the administration worked day and night for five months and PU improved 39 times in Asian ranking of universities. He said that for the first time, the applications for admissions were received online and PU received 127,000 applications out of which around 10,000 candidates got admission purely on merit. He congratulated newly admitted students and said they were lucky they got admission in the most prestigious seat of learning in Pakistan.

He said that Mohsin-e-Pakistan Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has given a message to the students to work hard for the development of the country. Renowned cricketer Misbahul Haq said that religion taught us to get success in this world as well as eternal world. He advised the students to learn discipline which would make them able to manage their life. He said that youth must have passion to achieve targets.

He said the students must work for excellence, not for degrees and jobs. He said that it

was his desire to get admission in PU and he spent memorable two years on campus. He said that he secured good marks in academics too but he was interested in cricket.

Amjad Islam Amjad and Mansoor Afaq presented poems and attract huge applause from the participants. The participants also paid tribute to Mohsin-e-Pakistan Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Cricketer Misbahul Haq gave a motivational speech to the new comers of PU by narrating his own experience of life especially during his stay in PU when he used to meet Dr Niaz Ahmed and his struggle to become a good cricketer as well as a good student.

The charged audience actively clapped and gave big applause to the national cricketer and celebrated poets.