Caps and gowns: 1,600 students graduate at KU’s silver jubilee convocation

The ceremony was held in a modest manner in view of the 57 lives lost in the Shikarpur attack.

KARACHI: Sindh’s largest public-sector varsity, Karachi University (KU), held its silver jubilee convocation on Saturday, conferring degrees on around 1,600 students.

As many as 137 gold medals were awarded, with girls bagging around 80 per cent of both the degrees and the medals.

The ceremony at the varsity’s Valika Cricket Stadium was held in a modest manner in view of the 57 lives lost in Friday’s bombing of an imambargah in Shikarpur. The faculty members wore black bands in response to the three-day mourning call given by a number of Shia political and religious parties. Moreover, the proceedings were modified to accommodate special prayers for the victims of the militant attacks in Shikarpur and Peshawar.

The university chancellor, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, was once again conspicuous by his absence: it was the seventh consecutive convocation he missed despite being invited as the chief guest. Provincial education minister and pro-chancellor Nisar Ahmed Khuhro received the honour in place of the governor.

Addressing the graduating students, Khuhro said that extremists were bent on snatching away the happiness, peace and security of the citizens. “Our reply to them is education, and this ceremony, decorated with great simplicity, is a symbolic expression of that.”

PHOTO: Athar Khan

KU vice-chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser diverted the pro-chancellor’s attention towards one of the unresolved problems that the university has been facing for around a decade: acute financial crisis. “To solve this issue, we are utilising all our resources and making efforts to mobilise our alumni for financial support; however, the provincial government is also requested to offer its due support,” he said.

Dr Qaiser added that the research and academic output of the university were growing steadily year by year. “In 2014, the university awarded 178 PhD and 103 MPhil degrees,” he pointed out. “Meanwhile, around 3,500 students are presently enrolled in various PhD programmes at the university.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2015.