IBA: Laptop Distribution Ceremony

Twenty-five meritorious IBA students were awarded laptops under the Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme. The ceremony, at Governor House was marked by the presence of His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Zubair – Governor Sindh who was also the Chief Guest, Mr. Javed Ali Memon – HEC Director of the Regional Centre Karachi, Dr. Sayeed Ghani – Acting Dean & Director IBA and many other esteemed guests. 

Followed by Tilawat and the National Anthem, Dr. Sayeed Ghani, Acting Dean & Director IBA commenced the event with his welcome note, “On behalf of the IBA family, I welcome His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Zubair, the Governor of Sindh; Mr. Javed Ali Memon, the HEC Director of the Regional Centre Karachi, Mr. Shahid Shafiq from IBA’s Board of Governors and distinguished guests. I congratulate the 25 students of IBA, selected from 310 students from different disciplines (PhD/MS programs in Maths & Computer Sciences and various Undergraduate programs), who are awarded with laptops today purely on merit. I think that such initiatives by the government, assist learning in our youth and establish a culture of research. He also urged the students to use these laptops for the progression of their studies and the country. Dr. Sayeed also thanked Governor Sindh Mr. Mohammad Zubair and BoG member IBA, Mr. Shahid Shafiq for making this event possible. He also informed the audience about IBA’s journey from being just a business school to a mini university, highlighting the fact that IBA has introduced MS in Islamic Finance and will be introducing MS in Journalism this year. He proudly informed the audiences about IBA’s fulltime faculty being 100 strong, out of which, 60% are PhDs from leading global universities. He also expressed his gratitude to the Ex- Dean and Director IBA, Dr. Ishrat, for his magnanimous contribution to both IBA’s academics and infrastructure. 

Addressing the audience, Mr. Javed Memon (Director Higher Education Commission Regional Centre, Karachi) said, “It is an established fact that a country’s economic development is determined by its intellectual capital. The significant results include that the percentage of higher education has increased from 2.6 percent of collage age students (17-21) to 8.26 percent in last ten years. On the directives of the Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Government of Pakistan has initiated a national program for distribution of laptops to young and bright students studying in public sector higher education institutes (HEIs) across the country. In this phase at IBA Karachi, we have planned to distribute 310 laptops. Also the laptops being distributed today have been assembled in Pakistan, which is a commendable success for the nation.”

The distribution of laptops to 25 students of PhD, MS, MBA, BBA & BS Programs was conducted by Mr. Mohammad Zubair – Governor Sindh, Mr. Javed Memon – HEC Director of the Regional Centre Karachi and Dr. Sayeed Ghani – Acting Dean & Director IBA.

Dr. Sayeed Ghani presented a token of appreciation to Mr. Mohammad Zubair – Governor Sindh.

Addressing the audience Mr. Mohammad Zubair- Governor Sindh said, “It is a pleasure to be a part of this laptop distribution ceremony for students of IBA, the institute of which I am a proud alumnus. IBA is a seat of learning parallel to none in Pakistan, with all the reasons to be proud of its glorious sixty years. It has gradually matured from an institute for quality education in Business to a seat of learning in Computer Sciences, Mathematical Sciences and Social Sciences. The Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme, launched in 2013, is a manifestation of the government’s desire to adequately equip its youth to be valuable members of a global community driven by knowledge economy. Whereas the nation is still combating the conventional challenges such as terrorism, financial and energy crises; there has been a growing realization about the need of non-traditional solutions to these problems. Hence, it was deemed necessary to invest energies and resources to improve on knowledge capital indicators, especially among youth.” He also paid homage to IBA and its students and said that IBA was very close to his heart, and recounted fondly the memories of back when there was only one IBA school and it had just a 100 MBA graduates in a year. He said IBA was a premium institution of higher education not just nationally but globally, thanks to its graduates who have established and succeeded in Banking, Finance and Consumer Markets throughout the world and thus added to IBA’s credibility. He particularly congratulated the female students for their notable success in the field of education. 

The students and esteemed guests were then gathered for an official photograph and the ceremony culminated with refreshments being served to the guests.

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