KARACHI, Nov 30: As many as 856 graduates were conferred bachelors and masters degrees at the 13th convocation of the NED University of Engineering and Technology on Tuesday.

Besides students of various graduates and postgraduate programmes, the university, for the first time in its history, awarded doctorate degrees to two of its faculty members, Abdul Qadir (Electrical) and Sheikh M Wahab uddin Usmani (Computer Science).

The Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, who handed over the PhD degrees to the recipients, also ordered giving them two increments in their salaries as a gesture of appreciation.

The governor, being the varsity's chancellor, presided over the convocation and in his brief remarks before declaring the closure of the convocation, said that graduates were the country's future.

"The country and nation looks towards you and you must utilize education for the development and prosperity of Pakistan and the ummah," he said pointing towards the passing out students.

He also gave away medals and merit certificates to position holders of various examinations of 2003. Cash prizes of Rs20,000, Rs15,000 and Rs10,000 were announced for every 1st, 2nd, 3rd position holder.

In his convocation address, the chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Pervez Butt, pointing to the new engineers said that indigenization was the only way to fully exploit natural resources and add value to products.

"We have to enter the stage of setting up factories to produce capital goods.... We have to design, fabricate, install and commission our own plants to exploit our natural resources. In short, we have to multiply manifold the 'value added' factor of our products," he added.

He said that engineers of the country realized that one of the important tools to rapidly develop the country's economy was exploitation and judicious utilization of natural resources, which included minerals, water, land and human resource.

Talking about the task ahead, he said those included building of dams to conserve and control water, improve the irrigation system to fully exploit the limited water resources.

"We have to build roads and bridges and infrastructure to improve communications and transportation," he stressed, saying that establishment of industries to process available raw materials and primary products, and add value to them as finished goods, to save and earn foreign exchange was also imperative.

Talking about the PAEC's achievements, Mr Butt said the Commission was given a task considered necessary for the country's defence, which was finally fulfilled. "We proved that, collectively, we Pakistanis can meet any challenge that is thrown at us and we are proud of our efforts," he informed the audience.

He said the PAEC was engaged in substantial activities for uplifting industry, and offering training and internships to hundreds of engineers and scientists every year at its various institutions. Many strategic organizations like Suparco, KRL, Nescom and the PNRA emerged out of the PAEC over the years, he added.

He mentioned that managing a university was not an easy job, but it was heartening that the some of the well-known universities, including the NED and the UET were working to the best of their capabilities, adding that stress was on producing quality students.

Earlier, in his report, the NED vice-chancellor, Abul Kalam, said that in all 772 students had passed the undergraduate examinations, and some 419 of those were appearing in the convocation. "With the passage of time, the university has been able to increase its yearly intake of students from 680 in 1996-97 to 1,066 this year," he said.

He said that the NED University initiated its doctorate programmes in 2000 exclusively for its faculty keeping in view the objective of providing excellent professional education. The increase in the number of doctorate-qualified faculty would ultimately increase the number of supervisors for more researchers at the varsity, he remarked.

Meanwhile, those who were awarded gold medals, merit certificates at the convocation, included Aslam s/o Faqir Mohammad (received cash prize of Rs5,000 for first position in all exams), Afaque Shams, Tahir Kalam, Umar Karim Khan, Fariha Aslam (received cash prize of Rs5,000), Hina Tabassum (received cash prize of Rs5,000), Mohammad Fahad, Nadia Alvi (received cash prize of Rs5,000) and Humma Nargis Aleem.