KARACHI, Nov 30: A total of 326 male and 158 female fresh graduates of the Institute of Business Administration, wearing traditional gowns and hoods, received degrees at a convocation held on the IBA`s main campus in Karachi University on Tuesday.

Those awarded degrees by IBA dean and director Dr Ishrat Husain included 213 BBA graduates, 254 MBA graduates and 17 of the BS programme. Students with excellent academic records were presented with gold medals by the Sindh High Court`s Justice Munib Akhtar, who is also the chairman of the IBA board of governors. Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, who was to be the chief guest at the convocation, could not attend the event.

The ceremony was attended among others by Karachi University vice-chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui and IBA faculty members, patrons, parents of the graduating students and a number of eminent personalities from the academia and the corporate and public sectors.

Kanza Shahnawaz bagged a gold medal for being the overall best student of the graduate programme. Maimoona Tariq clinched gold in the category of the overall best student of the undergraduate programme. The MBA Tax Management Programme`s gold medal was awarded to M. Ali Asad Khan. The `Overall Marketing` gold was presented to Madeeha Saeed Sheikh, and the `Overall Finance` gold went to Mahrukh Shakil.

Taimoor Zubair and Shoaib Masood jointly won a gold medal for the best BS/MIS project. The Community Welfare Society won a gold medal for the best student society of the year.

Felicitating the graduates, Justice Muneeb Akhtar reminded them that studying at the IBA was a privilege and now they were expected to serve both society and the country. He praised IBA director Dr Ishrat Husain for the progress the IBA has made under his leadership.

“Indeed the last two years have witnessed phenomenal developments and that everything is being executed in a much planned manner,” he said, adding that the new auditorium building, the illustrious faculty and the recent collaborations with foreign institution were all manifestations of the progress made at the IBA.

In his welcome address, IBA dean and director Dr Ishrat Husain said that modern technology was a prerequisite in today`s education and in the last one year the IBA had brought in 500 modern personal computers and had also set up high-speed internet connectivity to help students in their research work.

Talking about improvement in the physical infrastructure, he said that new academic blocks on both campuses had been renovated and equipped with modern facilities.

The completion of the main-purpose building and auditorium on the main campus, the new cafeteria and students lounge on the city campus were other achievements, he said. He announced the introduction of the Dean`s List at the IBA, a practice prevalent in leading universities around the world.

Stressing the importance of critical thinking and intelligence in problem solving, he told the IBA graduates that the learning process should never cease.

Dr Husain said he hoped that the new graduates would exhibit integrity, truthfulness, merit, discipline and humility in their practical life and commitment to these values would make them successful in the long run.

He also talked about e-learning facilities and the systems introduced at the IBA to make academic processes and services more efficient.

He praised the IBA faculty and stressed their involvement in academic and research endeavours at the national and international levels.

At the outset, Dr Husain paid homage to the founder dean and director of the IBA, Dr I. A. Mukhtar, who passed away last week.

“Dr Mukhtar would always be remembered for his dynamic leadership and professional values that turned IBA into a prestigious institution,” he said.

He also paid tribute to the families of the three IBA students — Muhammad Umer Khan, Owais Bin Laiq and Syed Ali Mujtaba – who died in different tragic events during the year.