KARACHI: At the 16th convocation of Ziauddin University (ZU) held on Friday at the Expo Centre, more than 500 students were awarded with graduation degrees in various disciplines.

Students honoured with Sir Ziauddin Gold Medal were: Kashaf Aqeel Zaidi (MBBS), Fatima Banday (dental surgery), Kiran Yameen (physiotherapy), Sarah Abbas Merchant (medical technology), Mub­een Aslam (nursing), Maryam Younus (bio-medical engineering), Hafiza Laraib (pharmacy), Abdul Malik (pharmacy), Shar­meen Patel (media sciences), Mehak Altaf (speech language therapy) and Dr Zil-e-Rubab, who received a doctoral degree in biochemistry.

Speaking at the convocation ceremony as a chief guest, Deputy Chairman of Senate Saleem Man­dviwalla congratulated stu­dents and advised them to work harder in their professional careers.

“While human anatomy has not changed much in the last 100 years or so, science has progressed by leaps and bounds. This proves that the field is continually evolving. And so must you. Strive to be the best for there is always room at the top. Only a struggle to serve humanity will make this world a better place,” he said.

Chancellor of Ziauddin University Dr Asim Hussain said that life was all about contentment in whatever we decided to do.

“True happiness does not come from material things. Do not educate your children to be rich, educate them to be happy. Eat your food as medicine otherwise you will end up with eating medicines as food.”

Coming to the challenges youth face in practical field in the later part of his speech, he said that difficulties must not move them away from their goal and that they should be passionate and never be obsessed.

He also briefed the audience about the university’s new academic programmes which included three new faculties; faculty of law, faculty of Eastern medicine and natural sciences and faculty of liberal arts and human sciences.

The university had also laid the foundation of a pharmacy block named after Sardar Yasin Malik at the Education City, he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, Vice Chancellor of ZU Prof Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui shared details of the university’s progress and said that so far more than 3,000 students had graduated from the university since its inception in 1995.

“All its academic programmes are accredited by respective professional accrediting bodies and the Higher Education Com­mission of Pakistan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2019