LAHORE: Girls have secured 26 out of 40 academic medals for first positions in different disciplines of Bachelor of Arts/BSc (Hons) programme of Government College University, Lahore. However, boys secured 21 of 24 rolls of honour for excellent performance in co-curricular activities and sports. Akhuwat Founder Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib and Virtual University Rector Professor Dr Naveed A Malik awarded medals and rolls of honour to these talented students at second and third sessions of the two-day convocation of the university. As many as 1,235 BA/BSc (Hons) students were awarded degrees on the second day of the convocation. Addressing the young graduates, VU Rector Professor Naveed A Malik said that era of single discipline degrees is over now; graduation is now just the first step of lifelong quest for knowledge. “Nobody could predict the future of the job-market in five years, but one thing is obvious that it’s now the era of horizontal integration. Every scholar and professional need to know little about other fields as well,” he said. Professor Malik believed that knowledge of humankind has moved out of textbooks and libraries; it now resides in cyber space ie Internet. He added that there are not much questions which are not answered by the Internet now. You can learn from making Spanish food to electric circuits from the Internet. “I am sure that your university has also given you the ability to question, to be analytical, critical and above all to be honest and carry forward the strong ethical and moral underpinning of this great institution,” he added. The VU rector said that he was very impressed by the research output of GCU Lahore and indeed the international ranking of the university which speaks volumes of good work done by its faculty. Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib told the young graduates that they are highly privileged and blessed as they have studied from a prestigious institution in a country where more than 15 million children don’t go to schools. Dr Saqib shared his story of resigning from civil services and establishing a micro-financing foundation which changed the life of many Pakistanis. “The happiness which comes from helping others has no match in this world,” he concluded. Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Professor Hassan Amir Shah revealed establishing the Institute of Physics at GCU by merging the Department of Physics and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics. He also revealed that GCU had recruited eight professors, five distinguished professors, three professors on various chairs, 19 associate professors, 34 assistant professors and two Foreign Faculty Professors to strengthen its faculty in the last couple of years. The position holders of BA/BSc (Hons) included Ambar Ashfaq, Arooj Fatima, Narmeen Jacob, Syeda Rabia, Nazia Ramzan, Fatima Kinza, Rimsha Athar, Ramla Hasnain, Asad Rahman, Amna Gillani, Gauhar Yaqoob, Shaista Khan, Quratul Ain, Mahnoor Khan, Ruqaiza Muhyudin, Fahad Hafeez, Sumera Zia, Arooba Nazim, Osama Shafiq, Zara Muzammil, Samra Saeed, Ameer Abdullah, Jawad Afzal, Maryam Ayub, Mohsin Naveed, Zara Waseem and Arsalan Ahmed. Published in Daily Times, July 6th 2018.