Mayor of Istanbul receives honorary PhD from GCU

Announces 15scholarships for Pakistani students at universities.

LAHORE:

The Government College University (GCU) on Monday conferred an honorary doctorate degree on the Mayor of Istanbul Dr Kadir Topbas for his services to strengthen and consolidate Pak-Turk friendship.

Dr Tobpas, who is on a two-day official visit to Lahore, was awarded the honorary degree in a ceremony at the Bokhari Auditorium.

Members of the Turkish delegation, Education Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, vice chancellors of King Edward Medical University (KEMU) and University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, academia, and members of the provincial cabinet were also present at the ceremony.

Dr Topbas, who has a PhD in Architectural History, said, “It is a great privilege and honour for me to be awarded an honorary degree by an institution that has produced prime ministers, chief ministers, leading artists, philosophers, social scientists and scientists.”

“This degree is a shining beacon of Pak-Turk cultural relationships. This is the highest honour I could have ever imagined. I am very happy to become a member of the alumni of this historic institution,” he said, while addressing the ceremony after receiving the degree. He announced that every year, 15 students from GCU would be admitted to universities in Istanbul to pursue higher studies. He said these students will get a scholarship of $6,000-$9,000.

Dr Tobpas said that the research papers produced by scholars in universities shouldn’t be left to rot, rather they should be used to devise solutions for problems faced by the people. He mentioned that the modern age was all about technology and universities were the places where technology was shaped. He said that Turkey was the 15th biggest economy of the world.

Mr Topbas said metropolitan municipality of Istanbul was helping the Punjab government in two major projects. “The first one is solid waste management and the second one is about generating energy from trash. We want Pakistan to benefit from development taking place in Turkey,” he said. GCU Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Khaleequr Rahman said that GCU had undertaken collaborative research projects with several Turkish universities, which had resulted in the publication of 66 research articles in Institute of Scientific Information journals.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2012.