1,256 Graduates Awarded Degrees,67 Medals In Convocation Of UVAS

The 9th convocation of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore was held here on Wednesday

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Dec, 2017 ) :The 9th convocation of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) Lahore was held here on Wednesday. Pro-Chancellor/Punjab Minister for Livestock and Dairy Development Asif Saeed Manais presided over the convocation in which 1,256 graduates were conferred upon degrees and 67 position-holders awarded medals.

The graduates who were conferred degrees included 252 DVMs, 282BS (Hons), 83 Pharm-D, 50 Doctors of Nutrition and Dietetics (DND), 40 MBAs,20 MBF,36 BBA (Hons),157MSc, 311 MPhil and 25 PhDs. Addressing the convocation, the pro-chancellor congratulated the graduating students on getting degrees and medals and urged them to play their due role in nation building.

He lauded the progress achieved by the UVAS and positioned itself among the 25 per cent top universities of Asia, the seven best universities of Pakistan in sports and top 10 universities of the country.

He said the government was committed to ensuring quality education and raising education standard its top priority. He listed various initiatives in livestock and education sectors for development, including Rs 2 billion initiative for poverty alleviation and Punjab Chief Minister's Dairy Development Program under "Kissan Package" of Rs 10 billion to provide heifers and sheep and goats to poor women are the two noteworthy initiatives, he said.

Earlier, the pro-chancellor along with the vice chancellor gave away degrees to Ph.D scholars and medals to the position-winning graduates. Presenting the welcome address, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat Naseer Pasha spoke about the academics, research, development, extension programmes and community services of the university.

He said that with a history of 135 years of excellence, the UVAS had now positioned itself among top 2.5 per cent Asian universitiesas per World Universities Rankings 2018. As per Higher Education Commission Sports Ranking 2017, UVAS got 4th position among the public sector universities of Pakistan and 7th among all public and private universities of the country, the vice chancellor said, adding that the UVAS is also among top 10 universities of Pakistan according to HEC overall ranking of Pakistani Higher Education Institutions for last two years.

Prof Pasha said the UVAS was swiftly achieving the milestones of need-based multi-level education and establishing itself as talent development institution by using its knowledge, resources and skills for growth of human resources.

He said that this year UVAS also secured affiliation of Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges. The vice chancellor informed the audience that UVAS scientists are executing 91 research projects worth of Rs 1,051 million won by the faculty members from national and international funding agencies.

He said the university was executing 10 development projects of Rs 4.5 billion being funded by the Punjab government. Seven of them are ongoing and three new ones approved during current financial year.

The vice chancellor said that the UVAS was uniquely structured to provide wide-ranging services to the community including farmers, publicand private stakeholders and the industry. The noteworthy services are diagnostics facilities, vaccine production, 24/7 clinical and extension services, consultancy and advisory services and policy framework, he said, adding that the university's outdoor facilities and teaching clinics handled over 20,000 cases during the year.

He said that the Center for Applied Policy Research in Livestock is generating innovative ideas from the laboratory and classroom into the publicpolicy arena, encouraging economic growth, creating jobs, spurring investment, and increasing exports - delivering benefits for farmers and agricultural businesses across Pakistan.

Given these facts, the UVAS is assuming a new role as an effective think tank, the Vice-Chancellor concluded.