Bahawalpur-The 11th Convocation of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur held at Baghdadul Jadeed Campus where degrees and medals were conferred on 1,958 successful students including 99 gold and 77 silver medalists.
Minister of State for Federal Education Baleeghur Rehman and Vice Chancellor Dr Qaiser Mushtaq awarded degrees and medals to successful students of academic session 2015. Baligur Rehman said on the occasion that the universities being centres of excellence have responsibilities to impart quality education and prepare students to confidently face the global challenges.
“The government is committed to ensuring quality education at all levels converting the country into a knowledge-based economy. The education sector is being focused with the highest priority and a record budgetary allocation of Rs1800 billion clearly reflects the priority of the government under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif. Similarly, funding of the Higher Education Sector has been doubled from Rs41 to Rs92 billion during the last three years,” he said.
The government, he added, was paying educational expenses of students belonging to less developed areas through Prime Minister’s Fee Reimbursement Scheme. The laptop scheme is an attempt to enhance the scope of research and quality education in the country providing wide access to global world, he said. The minister said that government is paying full attention to academic development of Bahawalpur.
He said, “Developmental work is in progress at the site of Veterinary and Livestock University in Bahawalpur. Federal government approved historic grant of Rs860 million for various projects of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur which shows its commitment for the educational development of the region. Recently, HEC funded building of University College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur completed at a cost of R421 million and inaugurated which is part of three mega projects provided to the university including buildings for Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan campuses.”
He advised the graduates to step up to execute the personal and national responsibilities focusing on contemporary issues. He expressed his satisfaction over the recent financial, academic and administrative steps taken by the University leadership.
In his address, Dr Qaiser Mushtaq said that the university has organised four convocations during the last two years to deal with the backlog of degrees from session 2010 to 2015. The university has shown remarkable progress in each sector and the HEC has declared IUB upgraded to 11th ranking by jumping 40 points in a year. Similarly, the university has obtained 6th position in research among 21 universities in Punjab, he said.
He thanked the guests, representatives of civil society and other dignitaries for participation in the convocation ceremony.