591 IBA graduates step into the real world

Majority of top positions at were clinched by female students, announced IBA dean and director Dr Ishrat Husain

KARACHI:

Attired in black gowns with mortarboards perched on their heads, 591 students of Institute of Business Administration (IBA) received their undergraduate and graduate degrees on Sunday evening.

The contagious electric energy of the fresh graduates encompassed the air as they stood in long queues to claim their entry pass into the real world. Planning and development federal minister Ahsan Iqbal was the chief guest at the ceremony.



Majority of the top positions at IBA’s convocation were clinched by female students, announced IBA dean and director Dr Ishrat Husain.

He praised the female student body and said that the gender composition of IBA students was almost 60:40 males to females. The dean's list, comprising the top five per cent students of Bachelor’s in Business Administration (BBA) graduating class has 14 females out of 16, he pointed out.



At the 60th anniversary of their institute, he was not only proud of the students' academic performance but also the individual personalities they have developed.



In the academic year 2014 -2015, the total student strength of IBA rose by 15 per cent from a year ago, said Husain. With the expansion of three new programmes at IBA — Economics and Mathematics, Accounting and Finance and Social Sciences and Liberal Arts — the undergraduate students now account for almost three-fourth of the student body and graduate students one-fourth, he claimed.

"We are no longer a business school," he pointed out, adding that instead they have transformed into a high quality institute.

On the occasion, Iqbal announced that there will be two seats in the Planning Commission of Pakistan for the graduates of IBA.

Speaking on the success recipe for the young graduates, Iqbal stressed upon the three Ds: Dream, decision and discipline. He said that if you have a dream, you can only achieve it by making right decisions that will take you to your destination. "With dream and decision you also have to impose discipline in your life," he insisted.

After 11pm, the IBA Boys Hostel turns into a prison

He asked the young graduates to keep upgrading their degrees with new knowledge. "Otherwise, these degrees will become obsolete," he added.

Enthusiastic gold medalists

Gold medalist in Masters in Business Administraion (MBA) marketing, Waqas Mehmood, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that it was useless to run after multinational companies and big names. "You have the skills, start from smaller companies, preferably Pakistani companies," he stressed, adding that with adequate skills, anyone can become successful.

Another gold medalist from the BBA programme, Sidra Ajmal, said that it was an achievement in itself to be awarded a gold medal from IBA. In future, she intends to further her education from IBA.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th,  2015.