Lahore - The 21st convocation of the University of Central Punjab was held at Expo Center, said a press release. Punjab Governor Ch Sarwar graced the occasion as chief guest while Prof Wang Junzhe, President of Xi’an International Studies University (XISU) was guest of honour.
A total of 1,549 graduates received their degrees. Sadia Iqbal, student of BS Psychology received the roll of honour for her outstanding performance whereas WaqarJamshaid was awarded certificate of merit. A total of 84 position holders were awarded with gold, silver and bronze medals.
In his address, Sarwar shed light on Sino-Pak friendship, saying: “Pakistan and China are great friends and we, the people of Pakistan are proud of this friendship.”
He asked students to respect their parents and teachers. He said: “Success must not be measured as what material things you have but what are you doing for the humanity. So serve humanity and this is the real success. Be proud of your roots, being Muslims, being Pakistani, love your culture and traditions. Working hard is the key to success.” In the end he congratulated the graduates.
Prof Wang Junzhe thanked the pro-rector for inviting him to UCP and congratulated the graduates. He said the Pak China friendship is 67 years old and this friendship is based on the principal of trust and peaceful existence.
He said: “The CPEC and ONE Belt One Road has opened new doors of opportunities and development for both the countries. They are not only mutually beneficial but have opened connectivity to Middle East, South and other regions too.”
He offered UCP students to come and study at Xi an University to know more about China and its culture.
Prf Dr Muhammad Zafarullah thanked the chief guest and the guest of honour for gracing the occasion. He appreciated Sarwar’s keen interest in the welfare of the people of Pakistan and hoped that under his able leadership, the universities will make significant progress.
The dean of School of Oriental Languages and Culture said Pak-China friendship shed light on Pak-China pact for education.
Students from Xi’an University are invited to an event scheduled to be held in February 2019.
He thanked senior executives from the corporate sector who have been facilitating students in internships, training, research and employment.
Enumerating 2018 developments at UCP, the pro-rector said that Center of Robotics was established in 2016 at Faculty of Information Technology. The Centre is successful in attracting international funding.
Dr Syed Atif Mehdi, Director of Center of Robotics, has won grants for two projects from DAAD, Germany. The objective of this funding is to establish research collaboration with University of Kaiserslautern, Germany and address challenges in developing agricultural robots for the farmers in Pakistan. Dr Syed Atif Mehdi is currently focusing on research and development of agricultural robotics which in case if improves 1% in national agricultural yield may result in economic boost of 220 million USD per annum.
This year, Takhleeq, a state-of-the-art business incubation centre is set up at UCP with the vision to help UCP students, faculty and alumni turn their business ideas into successful startup companies. In just three months, Takhleeq has become the epicenter of entrepreneurship on UCP’s campus, buzzing with innovators and entrepreneurs. The work done by Takhleeq’s team has been recognized internationally. Takhleeq is one of only two incubators from Pakistan accepted into the prestigious Frontiers Incubators program, funded by the Australian government.
This program will help Takhleeq with capacity building and creating global partnerships.
University of Central Punjab has also established Faculty of Law this year. This is a five years Honors program in line with HEC and Pakistan Bar Council rules and curriculum. The newly established Faculty of Law, has glorious history of over twenty-eight years to its credit as Punjab Law College. The Punjab Law College had always occupied the top-ranking position in legal education.
International Linkages Office is actively developing relations with universities in other countries. In this regard, we have signed MOUs with universities in China, Turkey, some European and US universities. We are organizing a Spring Festival in February and inviting international students from partner universities.
UCP Students’ Council, consisting of about 36 societies, is engaging students in multiple activities for grooming their personality and developing leadership skills.
This year, University organized a Model United Nations Conference which was attended by more than two hundred delegates from all over the country as well as from abroad including Germany and Jordon and Romania.