KARACHI, Nov 12: As many as 256 graduates were conferred business administration and computer science degrees at the convocation of Institute of Business Administration on Saturday.

Two graduates, who were declared the best students of the year 2004, were awarded gold medals during the ceremony which was presided over by the chairman of IBA Board of Governors, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.

As per an earlier announcement of the institute, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad Khan, who is also the patron of this oldest business school of the country, was to preside over the convocation marked as golden jubilee convocation by the organizers. However, he could not make it due to his sudden departure to Islamabad to attend an emergent meeting.

Students, parents, teachers and government officials were disappointed following a convocation announcement that Moulana Abdul Sattar Edhi, the noted social worker of the country, would not be able to receive an honorary doctorate degree on the day due to his preoccupation in relief activities for Oct 8 earthquake survivors in parts of Azad Kashmir and NWFP.

Director of IBA Dr Danishmand told Dawn that Moulana Edhi would now be conferred degrees at a special convocation for which dates would be sought from the IBA’s patron. The award ceremony would be held as soon as the new date and venue of the convocation were approved by the patron, he added.

Earlier, in his welcome address, IBA director pointed out to the outgoing students that it would be important for them to remember that responsibility would be given to people whose word could be trusted, who were objective and fair, besides being diligent, well-informed and aware of the reality of the world around them. “I invite you always to reject the shortcut gains at the cost of integrity,” he added.

He said that IBA was the most sought after business school in the country. The number of applicants last year was significantly higher than the number of applications the year before, he claimed, adding that the quality of applicants had also improved significantly.

Talking about the IBA’s achievements and plans, he informed the audience that the University of Toronto had expressed interest in establishing a student exchange programme with the IBA. IBA also planned to produce educational training materials in simple Urdu so that the modern concept, principles and methods of business management became accessible to men and women, who did not have the privilege of education at the IBA, he added.

Delivering the presidential address, Justice Khilji said that universities were mainly recognized by what they delivered and inculcated among their students. He appreciated the faculty and students of IBA for maintaining the high standards of education and services to society and hoped that efforts would be focussed on furthering the interaction between the academia and society.

He said that graduates should apply the acquired knowledge to uplift local business and industries to ever-greater glory. He said that it was heartening that the CBR had given the responsibility of training its officers to the IBA.

The vice-chancellor of Sindh University, Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, also a member of IBA Board of Governors, handed over the gold medals to the best graduates. Sana Fatima and Dione Rodrigues, both from MBA 2004, received medals for the best performance in Finance and Marketing respectively.

The names of first position holders of different classes are as follows:

MBA: Tooba Ferozie, (December 2004), Waleed Mohsin Malik (May 2005), Sana Fatima (December 2004) and Shahid (May 2005)