Hats in the air: To get good grades, just pay attention in class, says medallist

Bahria University holds 9th convocation.

ISLAMABAD:

For 477 former students of one of Islamabad’s leading universities, Saturday was a day to rejoice. Bahria University held its Ninth convocation at the Convention Centre, in a testament to the hard work of students and faculty members.

Nashmia Naeem, a gold medalist, was joyous over the support and encouragement of the cooperative faculty. Of her achievement, Nashmia said nothing is impossible, but one must be clear conceptually. “There isn’t any need to cram but to focus for clarity of vision,” she said.



Adding credence to the belief that grades depend on hard work, rather than raw intelligence, was Umer Mukhtar, a software engineering student and silver medallist. He is already working as a software engineer at a private firm. Mukhtar said he did not put in much effort to get his medal, rather, “I only did one thing — I did not miss a single class,” he said, while adding that work helped him streamline the ideas and innovations that he learned at university.

Bahria University Pro-Chancellor and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Mohammad Asif Sandila congratulated the students and urged them to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow as the world is passing through a critical juncture. “Only education will help you to cope up with such challenges and come up with solid solutions,” he said.



To make higher education more affordable for deserving students, University Rector Vice Admiral (retd) Shahid Iqbal announced that funds available for “need-based scholarships have been increased from Rs18 million to Rs23 million, which will provide an opportunity to students with low-income backgrounds to pursue education.”

Of the graduating students, 146 students were awarded degrees in various masters’ programmes, along with 331 undergraduate students. Among the 477 students, 19 received gold medals and 14 got silvers.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2013.