Over 1,000 SSUET graduates conferred degrees

Over 1,000 passing out graduates were conferred degrees at the 15th convocation of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) here on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, SSUET Chancellor Z A Nizami said the institution had been playing a major role during the last two decades in equipping the youth with technical education.
He pointed out that the SSUET graduates were serving in various countries of the world with placement on highly important positions and making new breakthroughs not only in Pakistan, but also in Europe, America and other regions. At the convocation, over 1,000 graduates of batch 2008 were awarded degrees in the engineering disciplines of Electronics, Computer, Civil, Bio-Medical and Telecommunication besides Computer Science.
The Chancellor said, "It is our strong conviction that good engineers and technologists can combat the forces that are responsible for weak economic conditions of the country and financial constraints in the domain of progress." They could find ways and means to transform poverty into plenty, he observed.
He asked new graduates to come forward to accept the challenges, which the country was confronting like dwindling down energy and water resources, dependence on foreign reliance and primitive systems and machinery in industry, which were the menace plaguing the country.
He emphasised the need for effectively exploiting the country's latent natural resources like huge deposits of coal at Thar as well as copper and other valuable minerals in other parts of the country so as to extract the country from economic turbulence and attain self-reliance in every sphere of national life.
Presenting the annual report, vice-chancellor Professor Dr Sayed Nazir Ahmed highlighted the successful journey of Sir Syed University from its inception in 1994 to its present glorious stage and informed that SSUET's annual budget soared from Rs 17.22 million in 1994 to a record Rs 712.3 million in 2012.
He said the university provided Rs 370 million worth equipment for labs in all the departments and spent Rs 195 million on new buildings and structures. He stated that besides a financial assistance of Rs 10 million and Rs 40 million worth scholarships to the deserving and talented students during 2011-2012, the university also provided Rs 7.7 million to needy students and Rs 2.3 million to deserving employees.
He pointed out that the university, which started with merely 200 students in 1994, today had over 5,600 students on roll and gave around 9,820 graduate engineers to the nation since 1998, when its first convocation was held. On the occasion, Chancellor Z A Nizami conferred gold medals to Saniah Rehan for securing first position in Computer Engineering, Muhammad Tarique Saleem in Electronic Engineering, Obaid Shakeel in Telecommunication Engineering, Farrukh in Biomedical Engineering, Hussam Bin Arshad in Civil Engineering and Minhaj Anwaar in Computer Science.
Recipients of silver medal for securing second position included Sana Waseem (Computer Engineering), Noman Akhtar (Electronic Engineering), Bilal Saeed (Telecommunication Engineering), Amna Ghani (Biomedical Engineering), Zia Ali (Civil Engineering) and Muhammad Arabi Tayyab (Computer Science).
The third position holders winning bronze medal included Anam Ashraf (Computer Engineering), Muhammad Muzaffaruddin (Electronic Engineering), Muhammad Kashan Shahbaz (Telecommunication Engineering), Samia Kaleem (Biomedical Engineering), Muhammad Rafique (Civil Engineering) and Rabia Rasheed (Computer Science).