On the occasion of LUMS celebrating its 35th anniversary, the University acknowledged the leadership of its founding members as well as its visionary partnership with the industry through a special commemorative ceremony hosted at the campus on December 11, 2021. The University’s senior leadership including Founding Pro Chancellor, Syed Babar Ali; Pro Chancellor, Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood; Rector, Mr. Shahid Hussain; Member Board of Trustees, Dr. Parvez Hassan and Vice Chancellor, Dr. Arshad Ahmad were present at the occasion.
The evening was a special tribute to all the donors who played a pivotal role in the successful journey of LUMS and its transformational endeavours through their generous contributions in the last 35 years. The attendees included notable donors from philanthropists, alumni, corporate representatives, Government bodies, and bilateral agencies who had contributed significantly towards LUMS success since its inception.
Welcoming the guests at the event, Ms. Nuzhat Kamran, Director of Advancement and an alumna of the University, spoke of the transformational experience of being a LUMS student and how the over 15,500 alumni are making the university proud across the globe. She highlighted the University’s effort to be accessible to talent across the country. An inspirational video story of a female National Outreach Programme scholarship beneficiary of LUMS who started her journey with humble beginnings and went on to assume a leadership role in the UK, was also shared with audience. The LUMS National Outreach Programme recently received the CASE Platinum Award for the ‘Best Practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ category, and is a highly prestigious scholarship, providing full tuition waivers and additional support for meritorious scholars to facilitate their education at LUMS.
The highlight of the event included recognition of the industry-academia partnership that has acted as a key enabler for LUMS to promote country-wide access to high quality education in Pakistan. The ceremony included a panel discussion moderated by Dr. Arshad Ahmad, LUMS Vice Chancellor, with the University’s founding members about the inception and journey of LUMS and how they envision its future evolution.
Syed Babar Ali emphasised on the importance of steadfastness and persistence that led to the inception of LUMS from a vision to a reality. Mr. Abdul Razak Dawood spoke about the strong values of tolerance, discussion, merit, and hard work that has been embedded in the academic culture of LUMS and has successfully steered it towards success over the last three decades. Dr. Parvez Hassan recalled the achievements of LUMS, particularly in the field of law, and how it is helping Pakistan’s judiciary in its capacity building efforts. Mr. Shahid Hussain outlined the current and future roadmap of LUMS and how it aims to grow its impact by further strengthening its alliance with the industry to play an even stronger role towards transforming society through education.
While addressing the audience, Dr. Arshad Ahmad spoke about the University’s learning without borders philosophy, cross disciplinary research on challenges related to managing water informatics and formulating strategic recommendations on electric vehicles policy – projects that are making an impact by defining strategic guidelines on how to tackle issues of national importance through effective solutions. The event culminated with the presentation of shields to the distinguished donors.