LAHORE – University of Veterinary and Animal Science (UVAS) Chancellor and Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa attended the 3rd convocation of UVAS at its Ravi Campus, Pattoki on Wednesday.’ Addressing the convocation, Khosa said the Higher Education Commission (HEC) would continue its operations because the 18th Amendment did not absolve the federal government from its responsibility to promote higher education. He said it was time to rectify the stigma on Punjab and its judiciary that sent Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to the gallows. He urged the prime minister and political leadership to ensure maximum funding for the HEC.
He said that as a governor he will play a pivotal role in solving varsity problems especially distribution of funds. He said that the universities should preserve their research work for the development of the country and provide hands-on training for the youth to uplift the livestock and agro economy. He said that he would raise the universities and students’ issues with the federal government .He also urged Pakistani scientists to introduce gene transfer technology especially in the livestock and agriculture sectors to enhance production potential. Quoting the UK prime minister, he said that Pakistan was spending only 1.5 per cent of the GDP on the education sector and said that this was too small an allocation. He said the Pakistan People’s Party-led government would allocate maximum resources to the education sector.
The governor said that enhanced livestock growth and productivity were essential to meeting the challenging food demands for the increasing population and also to alleviating poverty. He appreciated the varsity’s role in the field of education and research by producing qualified graduates to boost the livestock sector. He said that he was impressed by the remarkable progress made by the university in recent years. The governor also condemned suicide bombings in the country and said that the terrorists were not serving Islam. He said the terrorists were neither Pakistani nor Muslim. Earlier, UVAS Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Nawaz said that the convocation had been arranged for the award of degrees and medals to 633 students qualifying for Doctor of veterinary medicine (DVM), MPhil and PhD.
He said that the university had the distinction of being the first veterinary university of the Islamic world. He said that the university had improved since last convocation when only five scholars earned PhDs while today 26 scholars were conferred PhD degrees.. He explained that during the last 4 years, the university had initiated seven new undergraduate degree programs as well as and nine postgraduate programs. He added that the university’s prime objective was to train manpower capable of enhancing the production of good quality milk, meat, eggs and biopharmaceuticals.
He also said that the university’s various projects including Digitalized Livestock Business Training and Research Centre for marketing and e-marketing of the livestock following health and production certification were almost complete whereas Feedmill was near completion. He said that the poultry units were under construction while the Fish farms, Avian Research and Training (ART) Centre, Pets Breeding and Training Centre, Quality Operations’ Lab for ensuring World Trade Organization’s sanitary and Phyto-sanitary measures, University Diagnostic Lab and Bioequivalence Study Centre were first of its kind in the country and were fully functional.
Dr Nawaz said that the HEC had done a great job for the universities and added that the 20 per cent of development work had been completed with a cost of Rs 1 billion and added that the university was waiting for the release of another Rs 5 billion to complete the mega development projects already approved by the HEC. The governor inaugurated the wheat harvesting B-Block, gave degrees, medals and cash prizes to the position holders and later planted a sapling in the Ravi Campus A-Block. Livestock and Dairy Development Secretary Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan, UVAS Controller Examination Sajjad Hyder, Veterinary Sciences Dean Dr Nasim Ahmad, Animal Production and Technology Dean Dr Talat Naseer Pasha, Biosciences Dean Dr Ijaz Ahmad, Fisheries and Wildlife Dean Dr Muhammad Akram were also present on occasion.
