The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) held its 24th annual convocation on Saturday in the Syed Maratab Ali Sports Complex at the sprawling LUMS campus. The University campus community came together in traditional, celebratory spirit to mark the graduation of 713 students in a ceremony that also featured as the largest convocation in the history of LUMS.
Degrees were conferred to these graduates in various majors and disciplines from all three schools of the university, while outstanding students, securing top positions in various degree programmes were honoured with awards and medals by the National Management Foundation (NMF), the governing body at LUMS.
The keynote speaker at the convocation was Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, the Pakistani Oscar winner for her documentary 'Saving Face'. LUMS Rector Abdul Razak Dawood and LUMS vice-chancellor Dr Adil Najam were present on the occasion. Ms Chinoy has completed over a dozen, multi-award winning films in over 10 countries around the world and is the first non-American to be awarded the Livingston Award for best international reporting.
This year, Time Magazine included her in the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. She is also known for her work with human rights, women's issues, and campaigning for marginalised communities from across the world.
In her address at Convocation 2012, Ms Chinoy said, 'Please take a moment to reflect on the haunting difference between the two scenarios. In 1947, the dream that our founding fathers had envisioned for this land became a reality. Today, the very citizens of this land do not dare to dream. But as a nation we must dream, and we must dream big.'
While emphasising on dreaming big, Ms Chinoy also appreciated LUMS one such dream: The National Outreach Programme (NOP), which was launched in 2001 to provide educational opportunity to bright and talented students who are unable to meet the regular fee requirements. Ms Chinoy spoke well of LUMS' role in writing off the social class differences within our country, through such financial assistance initiatives. An evening earlier, on Friday the traditional Graduate Night dinner was held.
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