LAHORE - The 6th Convocation of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences was held on Thursday.
Chancellor/Governor Punjab Muhammad Sarwar presided over the convocation in which total 826 graduates, 197 of them DVMs, 180 BS (Hons), 70 Pharm-D, 25 MBA, 22 MBF, one MSc Wetland, 305 MPhil and 26 PhDs were conferred degrees. Also, 39 position-winning graduates were awarded medals. Addressing the convocation, the governor congratulated the graduating students on getting degrees and medals and said that they should contribute to the nation building development.
“Hard work, dedication, determination and commitment to your profession are the key success to success and growth in society,” the chancellor stressed.
He appreciated the efforts of UVAS in not only producing competent manpower and promoting veterinary science but also for contributing to development of livestock, poultry, dairy and other allied sectors.
“Livestock holds immense importance in Pakistan as it contributes substantially to national GDP and economic development,” said Sarwar, adding that enhanced livestock growth and productivity were essential to meet the challenging food demand for increasing population and to alleviate poverty. He also advised the students to be punctual and value time.
Earlier, the governor along with the vice chancellor gave away degrees to PhD scholars and medals to the top graduates.
Presenting the welcome address, VC Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha spoke about the academic, research, extension, training programs and achievements of the university. He said that the UVAS had developed state-of-the-art-clinics, teaching, training, research and diagnostic facilities. He said that the university had over 4,900 students on roll from all over Pakistan, with reserved seats for Fata, Balochistan, Afghanistan, Occupied Kashmir and AJK. So far, 120 students have qualified for PhD degrees; 1,485 MPhil and Masters; and 4,122 students undergraduate degrees from the university.
“The UVAS has done quite an outstanding job with its mix of teaching, innovation, and research, besides sharing its knowledge, resources and skills with the allied industry, professionals, farming communities and society,” the VC said in his address.
He said that as per the latest assessment of Higher Education Commission, the UVAS got 93.3pc score and achieved highest ‘W’ category in quality education and secured 3rd position in HEC ranking of Agricultural/Veterinary Universities of Pakistan.
The VC said that currently 57 competitive research projects worth Rs664.725m won by faculty members were underway in the university. “This year, there is 146pc increase in securing research grants as compared with 2013,” he said, adding that 82 more research projects submitted by faculty to different national and international funding agencies were under review. He said that the faculty members and students published over 408 research papers in HEC-recognized impact factor journals.
“The UVAS is working closely with Livestock and Dairy Development Department Punjab for serving the farming and business communities for provision of healthy food of high biological value from livestock and poultry to our nation and develop policies that will foster a sustainable and prosperous farmer economy,” he further said. Under the direction of Chief Minister Punjab and the L&DD Department, the UVAS has taken initiative for progressive control of foot and mouth disease, he added.
“We will be providing our research based Foot and Mouth and Hemorrhagic Septicemia Vaccine to the department initially for the next six years,” the VC affirmed.
Prof Pasha said that the Punjab chief minister had assigned the UVAS to establish an institution at Bahawalpur catering the needs of South Punjab for education, research, disease diagnostics, training and keeping pace with innovations in the livestock, poultry, wildlife and allied sectors and needs of industry & trade. “Therefore a project for Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at Bahawlpur has been approved for Rs2.54 billion by the Punjab government. The work on this project is going on at full pace with the collaboration of Ankara University and Selcuk University, Turkey. This will be a two years project and we envisage completing this by June 2016,” he added.
He said that with the financial support of Agri-Support Fund of USAID, the UVAS developed protocols for buffalo pink veal production and conducted “3-Tier Meat Industry Training” at Lahore and Karachi.
In an Australian government-funded ASLP project, the UVAS is working with 1,500 registered farmers in five districts of Punjab and two districts in Sindh, the vice chancellor said.
He said that the university gave Rs28m need-based scholarships funded by the HEC and different donors. The Vice-Chancellor also congratulated the graduates on getting degrees and medals.
At the end, the UVAS also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Pakistan Tanners Association in the presence of the governor.