LAHORE - The 18th Convocation of Beaconhouse National University (BNU) was held on at varsity’s New Campus, Raiwind Road here on Saturday. The ceremony was presided over by the adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security & Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz who is also the founder Vice Chancellor of BNU.
BNU Board of Governors Chairperson Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri, Vice Chancellor, Shahid Hafiz Kardar, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Kasim Mahmud Kasuri, Dr Parvez Hassan, Mueen Afzal, Shamim S Khan, Deans of BNU Schools including Prof Salima Hashmi, Dr Gulzar Haider, Dr Mehdi Hasan, Dr Tariq Rahman, Dr Khaver Zia and Dr Ruhi Khalid besides dignitaries, guests and parents of the graduating students were present.
A total of 325 graduates were awarded degrees on the convocation. Of these, 148 graduated with M.Phil, MS and Masters Degrees and the remaining 177 received Bachelor degrees. These include 45 from Mariam Dawood School of Visual Arts & Design (SVAD), 11 from Razia Hassan School of Architecture (SA), 49 from Seeta Majeed School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (SLASS), 83 from School of Media & Mass Communication (SMC), 44 from School of Computer and IT (SCIT), 41 from the Institute of Psychology (IP) and 52 from the School of Education (SE).
This year, a total of 20 gold medals were awarded in recognition of academic excellence achieved by graduates in their specific disciplines of which 14 recipients were girls. Students from all Schools also received Certificates of Distinction for best thesis and projects.  
The Arfa Karim Gold Medal was awarded to Sajid Akram Kashmiri of the School of Computer and IT (SCIT) while the Nasim Hijazi Gold Medal was awarded to Aneeqa Zaheer of School of Media and Mass Communication (SMC).
Aman Karim, a graduate and gold medalist of MS Clinical and Counseling Psychology was the valedictorian speaker at the convocation.