Hats off: Faculty toppers, graduates bag 11 gold medals at convocation

HYDERABAD: As many as 11 gold medals and 21 silver medals were awarded to the faculty toppers, best graduates and position holders at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET) at its 16th annual convocation in Jamshoro on Tuesday. The varsity conferred degrees on 457 graduates. Four doctors of philosophy and 60 masters of philosophy, besides 325 bachelors of engineering, two bachelors of architecture and 22 bachelors of design are among the recipients of the degrees. “The MUET has emerged as an institute of prestige in the country,” said the provincial education minister, Nisar Khuhro, who is also the pro-chancellor of the public sector universities. “The day is not far when MUET will be among the top 100 engineering universities in the world.” Emphasising the need to gain education in science and technology, Khuhro said the standard of measuring literacy rate is changing in the world and Pakistan will have to follow these changes. “In this era of science and technology, will we still continue to consider a person as literate only when he knows how to read and write?” The minister also announced that the government has provided funding for the establishment of a girls college at MUET. The newly appointed vice-chancellor, Dr Aslam Uqaili, said that MUET has established links with 22 foreign universities after it achieved the ISO certification a few years ago. He stressed the contribution of MUET in the development sector, including improvements in the quality of water, Thar coal and bio-gas production from sugarcane. He informed that over 7,500 students were enrolled in the university, whose faculty boasts 103 PhD teachers. “The strength of our faculty has grown exponentially since 2003 when we had only three PhD teachers.” Earlier, the faculty toppers and the best graduates – Sikandar Almani and Sharmin Abid Shaikh -were awarded two gold medals each. Hizbullah Memon, Muhammad Rameez Rajput, Muhammad Azhar, Aurangzeb Rajput, Maria Kumari and Fida Hussain also received gold medals. Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2014.