More than 53,000 girl students walked away with degrees at 7th Convocation of Sargodha University, held on Thursday. Pro-Chancellor Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfaraz, Punjab Minister for Higher Education, was the guest of honour who presided over the ceremony along with the Vice Chancellor Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad. During the 2nd convocation of the year 2019, the university conferred degrees on 83,683 students in total, of which 64 per cent were girls. The degrees conferred include, 30 PhD, 1,343 MS/MPhil, 37,137 MA/MSc, 14,910 BS/BBA and 30,263 BA/BSc degrees, awarded to the students from disciplines of Medical and Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Agriculture, Sciences, Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences. 574 students with distinctions were honoured with medals. The ceremony was initiated in a ritualistic manner, with the entrance of the academic procession comprising the Pro-Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor and Deans of the seven faculties at the convocation venue. Addressing the ceremony, Raja Yassir Humayun Sarfaraz said that higher education has unrivalled power to play role in developing human resources and their contribution to the economic progress of a nation. Providing quality education, with compatible skills required by the international market, is the topmost priority of the government, he added. The Pro-Chancellor announced establishing universities in district Bhakkar and Khushab. He highlighted initiatives and major reforms taken by the government in higher education sector including the launch of Associate Degree Program to promote skills-based undergraduate education through community colleges, an internationally sponsored training program for engineers for overseas employment and a microchip manufacturing technology venture with the help of China. The administration and the faculty of Sargodha University deserved applause and admiration for noticeable progress in a relatively short span of time, he said. The minister vowed to extend all the possible support to further built upon its global linkages, improve international rankings and become a role model for fellow institutions in the country. Dr Ishtiaq Ahmad, while delivering his convocation speech, congratulated the students on their academic accomplishments while highlighting the share of their parents, teachers and friends in their proud successes. The Vice Chancellor expressed “We remain committed to providing quality education to our youth by consistently improving the level of teaching and research, synergising academia with industry and building global partnerships.” Our progressive reforms have so far enabled Sargodha University to enter the rank of Top 1000 world universities in Times Higher Education University Rankings 2020 and among top 500 Asian universities in QS Asian Universities Ranking 2019, Dr Ahmad added. He further added that the university is nurturing a knowledge-seeking culture for our youth, who are going to be the future leaders, at all levels. After the formal ceremony, the students celebrated their achievements with enthusiasm and fun-filled activities.