Rawalpindi, The graduates should apply modern knowledge and technology, which they have learnt during their stay in the university, in the practical fields. The faculty should encourage and facilitate the students in focused research endeavours. Besides the conventional agricultural education the livestock sector should be emphasised to overcome the food shortages and bring the country towards self-sufficiency.

This was stated by Punjab Governor and Chancellor of the University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi (UAAR) Lieutenant-General (r) Khalid Maqbool while addressing the 9th convocation of the university.

Over 1,000 graduating students for the year 2007 were awarded degrees on the occasion. Fourteen PhD scholars also received their degrees. Moreover, 38 students of various disciplines decorated with medals. The governor presided over the convocation and conferred degrees on the graduates.

The governor said agriculture is the lifeline for the people of Pakistan. “High population pressure, climate change and world economic indicators are putting a lot of pressure on our agriculture. Soon Potohar is going to be a granary hub, and this university has been playing a leading role in human resource development to face the challenges of agro field. The specific areas in which the university has to lay emphasis for agricultural productivity included soil conservation, quality of seeds, water management, agro-processing and waste management,” he said.

While congratulating the faculty and vice chancellor for such achievements, the governor said that the university has shown good progress in winning national and international competitive research projects, number of publications, completion of development projects and many more. He also appreciated the contribution of HEC in providing financial support to the university and closely monitoring its progress.

On the occasion Chairman Higher Education Commission Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman also addressed the graduating students and highlighted the achievements of Higher Education Commission since its establishment along with some objective to be achieved in near future. He said that research publications were focused earlier and HEC has achieved a very good response in this regard and now on ward he is looking for patents from the universities in order to put them in the international standard.

Earlier, Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Khan, Vice Chancellor of University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, in his welcomed addressed elaborated the goals and achievements of the university. He said the UAAR had been making all-round progress be it services and academics, infrastructure or facilities. He congratulated the parents of the students who had successfully completed their courses and were receiving their degrees today.

Later the governor inaugurated the Foreign Faculty Hostel and a Girls Hostel in the university premises.

Degrees were awarded to the students of BSc (Hons), Agriculture, BBA (Hons), BEd, BCS (Hons), BS(CS), BIT, BS (IT), BCE (Hons), MSc (Hons), Agriculture, PhD Agriculture, MSc Sciences, PhD Sciences, Management Sciences, Education and Information Technology.