Convocation 2014 was held at Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), the number 1 ranked Engineering Institution of the country, on 25 February 2014. Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Professor Ahsan Iqbal was the Chief Guest on this occasion. Degrees were conferred to 300 PhD, MS, MPhil and BS graduates. The post-graduates degrees were awarded in the disciplines of Nuclear Engineering, Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Process Engineering, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation & Medical Oncology, Medical Physics, and Physics. The BS degrees were awarded in the field of Computer & Information Sciences. Gold medals and merit certificates were distributed to the graduates securing top honours in each discipline.
Speaking in this august ceremony, Ahsan Iqbal lauded the research output and quality education of PIEAS. He emphasized the importance of applied research over blue sky research for the countries like Pakistan. He said the world has identified the key areas of development in the fields of IT & Telecom, robotics, man-made materials, biotechnology, chemical processing, and sustainable energy. By adopting modern techniques in research, universities can play a major role to develop a modern society.
Prof. Ahsan said that government’s top priority is to overcome energy crisis in the country and the government is also focusing to utilize nuclear energy to alleviate loadshedding. He said that Coastal power plant would add 2200 MW additional electricity in our National power system which has already been inaugurated by the Prime Minister.
He also stressed Scholars and Scientists to devote their energy and talent in that area which will have maximum impact to achieve millennium development goals.
Giving comparisons, the federal minister said that Pakistan’s power sector installed capacity stood at 21,000MW from 1947 to date, but now the Chinese government had showed its confidence on our government by agreeing to assist Islamabad for installation of adding 23,000MW in the next five to seven years.
In his welcome address, Chairman PAEC, Dr. Ansar Parvez, himself a PIEAS graduate, thanked the Federal Minister and briefed the audience about the culture of merit in PAEC and the importance that it attributes to HRD. PIEAS has become a supplier of quality man-power to all the strategic commissions of the country including PAEC, NESCOM, KRL, and PNRA. He advised the graduating class to concentrate on the frontiers of knowledge and master the cutting edge technologies.
Earlier on, Rector PIEAS, Dr. Muhammad Aslam told the audience that PIEAS acquired degree awarding status in year 2000 and within a short period of six years it was ranked as No.1 Engineering Institution of Pakistan by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). He praised his faculty as PIEAS consistently retained this prestigious position in the subsequent HEC rankings held in 2010 and 2013. Sixty-seven PIEAS graduates have been decorated with national civil awards for their outstanding contributions to national technical developments.
