Caps in the air: UoE sees off graduates at 5th convocation

5,888 degrees conferred, 196 position holders awarded medals

LAHORE: A total of 5,888 graduates were conferred degrees at the 5th convocation of the University of Education (UoE) Lahore held at its Township Campus on Tuesday.

Among the 5,888 graduates, 2,504 students were of BEd, 67 students were of BEd Special Education, 490 of MEd, 107 of MEd & MA Special Education, 67 of BFA 331 students of MA Education, 29 students of MA Education L&M, 493 of Master of Arts, 497 students of Master of Science, 200 of MBA, 187 of BBA (Hons), 187 of BS (Hons), 107 MPhil and 15 PhDs. Furthermore, 196 position holders were awarded medals.



The convocation was presided over by UoE Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Rauf-i-Azam, while higher education minister and pro-chancellor of the university Syed Raza Ali Gillani, Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Chairman Dr Muhammad Nizamuddin were the chief guests.

Speaking at the ceremony, Gillani said the government was committed to ensuring quality education.

For this, he said appointment of teachers on merit basis, establishment of computer labs at schools and colleges, provision of laptops for the high achievers and scholarships had been given.

“We have gathered here to celebrate your brilliant success. It is now your duty to pay back to society and contribute to nation building,” Gillani added.

Dr Rauf said 385 regular faculty members were serving currently at various campuses and divisions of the UoE. About 104 PhD and 170 MPhil faculty members placed the university in the category of large general universities at number 12 in the HEC ranking, he said.

“The UoE is swiftly achieving the milestones of need-based multi-level education and developing talent enhancement institutions by using its knowledge, resources and skills for growth of human resource,” he observed.

Dr Rauf added that Punjab government had allocated Rs120 million for training of newly inducted 3,500 college teachers throughout the province. “This training plan is being successfully implemented by the UoE in 2016,” he said. “The varsity has also received another government of Punjab project that is to impart training to college teachers of Gilgit-Baltistan.”

He said the government had also tasked UoE to supervise hundreds of scholarships for learning Chinese and Turkish languages. “One batch of 300 Pakistani students for Chinese language course has already been dispatched to China.”

The UoE vice-chancellor told the audience the university had spent Rs823.21 million in 2016 to provide required facilities and to renovate various campuses of the university.

“Although UoE has three campuses in Lahore none of them has enough space to cater to the needs of a forward-looking, modern university,” he said. “At least 400 acres of land is required in the immediate suburbs of Lahore for the establishment of the main campus of the university in Lahore.”

PHEC Chairman Dr Nizam appreciated the efforts of all those who had contributed their time, energy and efforts to establish a university dedicated to teachers’ education on sound footings.

He hoped the university would continue to grow and strengthen. “We need to invest for the strengthening of our education system, so that we can deliver good education,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2017.