LAHORE (05-12-24): The 15th Convocation of the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore was held here on Thursday. Pro Chancellor/ Minister for Livestock & Dairy Development Punjab Mr Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah Kirmani presided over the convocation while Minister for Higher Education Commission Punjab Mr Rana Sikandar Hayat, Parliamentary Secretary Livestock Sardar Muhammad Asim Sher Mekan, UVAS Vice-Chancellor Meritorious Prof Dr Muhammad Younus (DLA.I, T.I) faculty members, syndicate members, representatives from dairy, poultry, meat, food and pharmaceutical industries were present.
Total 1,733 graduates were conferred degrees and 68 position-holders awarded medals. Out of the graduating students, 73 were PhDs, 482 MPhils, 277 DVMs, 734 BS (Hons), 104 Pharm-D and 63 BBA (Hons).
Addressing the convocation, Minister Livestock Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah Kirmani congratulated the graduating students, their parents and teachers and urged them to work hard and serve humanity. He said that successful candidates are the pride of their parents and institution and asset to the country. He also congratulated the overseas students of UVAS. He said that under the vision of the Chief Minister, the Punjab government recently launched an internship programme with a stipend of Rs 60,000 for agriculture students to impart practical training to them. He said that the government will also launch such internship programme for veterinary students and provide internship opportunity to 1000 students of UVAS for their capacity building. He said that UVAS is playing a vital role in livestock sector development. He said that the Punjab government recently has develop vaccine for the eradication of lumpy skin and Thileria diseases and in near future the Punjab government with the help of Livestock Department and UVAS will establish first foot and mouth disease free zone first time in the history of Punjab.
Higher Education Minister Rana Sikander Hayat said that Pakistan is the fourth largest milk producer in the world and it is direly needed to prepare our own vaccine instead of importing them from other countries to eradicate livestock diseases. He also congratulated UVAS graduates on their success and wished them a bright future.
Earlier, the Pro Chancellor along with the UVAS Vice-Chancellor gave away degrees to PhD scholars and medals to the position-winning graduates.
Presenting the welcome address, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Younus spoke about the academic, research, development, extension programmes, various initiatives and community services of the university. He said that UVAS stood among top 801-1000 best universities of the world, 9th among Pakistani universities and 3rd in Punjab public sector in the Time Higher Education World University Rankings. He said that the university is also well placed at 51-70 in the QS World University Rankings by Subject (Veterinary Science). He said that not only in academics, UVAS is also among the top 10 universities in the HEC Sports Ranking. He said that UVAS has been recognized as the hub of professional advancement in wide-ranging areas including Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Animal Production & Technology, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Food and Nutrition, Environmental Sciences, Economics & Business Management with 354 faculty members out of whom 261 are PhDs.
He said that currently UVAS is offering 77 degree programs, including 17 Undergraduate, 34 M.Phil and 26 PhD programs. In these programs, more than 9,000 students from all over the country and abroad are enrolled. He said we encourage our students by providing them incentives including merit and need based scholarships. UVAS awarded 1,154 scholarships during the fiscal year and total amount awarded in these scholarships was over Rs.100 million and every sixth student is the beneficiary he added.
Prof Younus said that UVAS is a research oriented university and is currently executing 55 research projects worth over Rs574.4 million. UVAS faculty members have published more than 600 research articles with impact factor of over 750 during the last one year. He said FMD vaccine development alternatives of antibiotics in poultry, livestock reproduction through IVF technology, sustainable production of processed fish meat, value-added fish byproducts and control of tick borne diseases to tackle food insecurity are few of the UVAS key research projects. He said that UVAS is executing development projects of more than Rs 3.453 billion. Of them two projects worth Rs 228 million are funded by UVAS from its own resources while the others are sponsored by the Higher Education Commission Islamabad and the Punjab government. He said UVAS has modernized and digitalized its clinics and labs and internship management system to facilitate the community and students. He urged students to focus on entrepreneurship and become job providers rather than job seekers.
