Governor Punjab/Chancellor UAF Muhammad Baleeghur Rehman has said students are precious asset to the country and they must play their role for promotion of knowledge-based economy in Pakistan by switching over from academic knowledge to applied sciences. He was addressing the 27th Convocation of University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) here on Wednesday in which as many as 16,229 students of the year 2021 and 2022 including 248 PhDs scholars were awarded degrees whereas 42 students were decorated with gold medals, 94 with silver medals and 26 students were conferred bronze medals.
The governor said the youth should understand the vicious social media campaign launched with ulterior motives to destabilise the country. They must understand the message between the lines and reject the impact of such negative propaganda which may prove harmful to the nation and the country, he added. He appreciated the efforts of UAF and said that it has taken a bold step by establishing National Incubation Centre, which would provide an opportunity to the passing out students to earn precious foreign exchange by exporting their IT related skills. He also paid tributes to Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and said that he should upgrade the university syllabus to introduce modern technologies in our rural economy.
He said improvement in world ranking is indicative of the sincere efforts of the Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and his team. “However, it was very strange that despite being an agrarian economy, we are still importing many agri products,” he added. In this connection, he particularly mentioned the import of Moringa (Sohanjna) powder which is being used in our society for the last many centuries but the developed countries are exporting it under brand names and in an attractive packing.
Earlier, in his welcome address UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the university had attained prominent position in international rankings. According to QS ranking, the UAF is ranked at 12th in Asia and 1st in Pakistan.—APP
