Tag: (LUMS)

Lahore, December 21, 2022 (PPI-OT):The Vice Chancellor’s Alumni Achievement Awards (VC AAA) recognise outstanding alumni for their exemplary accomplishments across sectors, including contributions made and services rendered in communities locally and around the world, with a commitment that reflects the LUMS spirit.

From scoring big in academia and leading global organisations, to spearheading social change in Pakistan, this year’s VC AAA winners continue to make LUMS proud on an international scale. Learn about the impactful work they are doing and explore their inspiring journeys.

Ahmed is an example of professionalism and hard work. She has consistently achieved her personal and professional goals over the last two and half decades. Since graduating in 1996, she has worked for several internationally renowned institutions including WI Carr Securities, The World Bank, Faysal Bank and MCB Ltd.

She has held senior management positions in the corporate banking coverage space. She started as a coverage banker in Islamabad and has successfully risen through the ranks to her current position as an Executive Vice President heading Corporate Banking for the Central and Northern regions for Pakistan at MCB. Ahmed has taken on very active roles with each of her teams in managing a very large and complex portfolio through the challenging macro-economic environment in Pakistan in recent years.

She has been an inspiring mentor for many who have been lucky to work with her, especially young women taking on the challenges in a majority male working environment. She has also volunteered as a mentor for the National Incubation Center Lahore (NICL) at LUMS and was nominated to participate in the Stanford Seed Program. At the beginning of her career, she contributed to a few case studies that became a part of the MBA programme at LUMS. Dr. Farooq’s work focuses on the development of analytical methods for analysis of various pharmaceutical drugs.

He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Iowa State University in 2022. As a researcher who has made remarkable advancements in the field of separation science, Dr. Farooq played an instrumental role in securing preliminary data needed for the US Department of Energy to award a $2.45 million grant on separation science (funded through Ames National Laboratory) to the Department of Chemistry team at Iowa State University. During the course of his PhD, Dr. Farooq published 16 research papers with seven first-author manuscripts in high impact journals.

He has received several awards for excellence in research including the David N. and Minnie I. Wall Graduate Fellowship, Mary and Velmer Fassel Travel Award, and Professional Advancement Grant at Iowa State University. Currently, he also serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Chromatography A and Royal Society of Chemistry.

Dr. Farooq actively guides and mentors LUMS students who aspire to pursue graduate studies in the US. He loves boxing, a sport he took on at LUMS, and has competed in several US collegiate boxing nationals. Dr. Farooq is a proud National Outreach Programme (NOP) alumnus of LUMS and dedicates his success to both the LUMS NOP and his parents.

Laghari works in Guggenheim’s Energy Investment Banking group and helps lead the firm’s energy and energy transition investment banking business. He has over 14 years of investment banking experience and primarily focuses on strategic advisory assignments and financing for companies in the energy
Industry.

Previously, Laghari worked at Citigroup where he led the firm’s North American Upstream
Investment banking business, representing one of its largest investment banking teams within the Global Energy Group. His experience includes a broad range of strategic advisory and capital markets engagements. He has led several transactions totalling over $140 billion in value and spanning North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

After graduating with honours from LUMS, Laghari earned an MA in Financial Risk Management from the Segal Graduate School of Business at Simon Fraser University. He and his wife, Nadia reside in Houston with their daughters Lyla and Leah.

Dr. Mubin is a senior academic and currently Acting Associate Dean, High Degree Research at his Faculty at Western Sydney University. His primary research interests are human-robot interaction and human-computer interaction. Specifically, he studies social robotics and their interaction with humans in education, public spaces and information dissemination scenarios. In the area of health informatics, he has worked on technological interventions for COVID-19, autism, stroke and substance abuse.

Dr. Mubin has authored 31 journal publications in the last five years, 14 in Q1 and 15 in Q2 ranked journals. He is involved in teaching and supervising (undergraduate and postgraduate) students in the broader area of human-computer interaction, mobile computing and health informatics.

He has already supervised five high-degree research students to completion; four as a principal supervisor and one as co-supervisor. He is currently principal supervisor to a further four research students. In recognition of his expertise in robotics, he also serves as an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Social Robotics.

Nadeem is a global expert on innovation, entrepreneurship, business models and product development. He actively mentors founders, aspiring entrepreneurs and students, and consistently strives to inspire, educate and empower the youth towards entrepreneurship. Having played a pivotal role in the launch of Pakistan’s first STP, National Science and Technology Park (NSTP), and Nadeem is currently spearheading the Innovation and Partnerships there.

He has designed the award-winning academia-industry linkage platform ‘The Bridge’, internationally renowned start-up incubation programmes, TechOne, Cube 8 and Hatch 8, as well as performance evaluation frameworks for the Science Park. In the last few years, his contributions have led to PKR 2.8+ billion in revenue generation, PKR 2.7+billion in start-up funding and creation of 2,800+ jobs.

Previously, Nadeem designed the entrepreneurship curriculum for all Schools at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). He is a recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship and completed his Masters from Imperial College London. He loves adventure, travel and sports.

Sadiq holds a graduate degree in Film Directing from Columbia University. His first feature, Joy land, won the Jury Award in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022 and became Pakistan’s official submission to the 95th Academy Awards. His short film, Darling, which was based on Joy land, won the Best Short Film award at the 76th Venice Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival.

His short film, Nice Talking to You was an official selection at South by Southwest (SXSW) 2019, Palm Springs International Shorts fest 2019, and won Vimeo’s Best Director award at Columbia University Film Festival 2018. The film also made the BAFTA Shortlist for Best Student Film.

Saeed is Co-founder of Charity Doings Foundation (CDF), a non-profit established in 2016, and an Animal Welfare Ambassador to Comprehensive Disaster Response Services (CDRS), both incorporated in Pakistan and the USA. CDF is actively investing itself in social responsibility efforts and has successfully executed multiple projects across Pakistan.

These projects include over 800 solar water projects, environmental sustainability programmes, sustainable electricity projects, daily food distribution to over 12,000 individuals in a month, economic sustainability programmes, a stray animal feeding programme, supporting a school for special children, and an orphanage.

To date, CDF has nationally helped over 10 million humans, and thousands of animals, and has deployed over $300,000 in infrastructure development. Saeed is currently pursuing an LL.M in Animal Law at the Center for Animal Law Studies, Lewis and Clark Law School as the first Pakistani recipient of the Brooks Institute Animal Rights Law and Policy International Scholarship.

He holds an LL.M from the University of Michigan Law School, and is a member of the American Bar Association Animal Law, International Animal Law and the Climate Change and Human Rights Subcommittees, a member of the newly formed Animal Law Working Commission for The Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA).

At the University of Michigan, Saeed was the first-ever dual recipient of the Myint Zan LLM Prize and the Outstanding LL.M student for excellence in pro-bono service award, the LL.M Student Council representative for his class and the DEI Chair for the entire law school.

Younas is the founder of vFairs, a leading global virtual, hybrid and in-person events platform. VFairs helps organisations of all sizes, industries and regions conduct memorable online events to achieve real business results. The virtual platform and mobile app offer versatile features and customisation options. The company’s exceptional customer support is consistently rated #1 on third-party sites like G2 and Capterra.

This is why top organisations around the world such as Nestle, Microsoft, Amazon and more have chosen vFairs to host virtual conferences, online trade shows, job fairs, virtual training and more. VFairs has employees across 10+ countries including the USA, Canada, UAE, Australia, UK, Pakistan, etc. In 2017, Younas also established the Lahore engineering and project management campus for vFairs. In over 5 years, he created job opportunities for the local market and employed 200+ Pakistanis with his staunch belief in the quality of talent.

A sizable portion of that employee base hails from LUMS. Younas holds a Masters in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and David Bruton Jr. Fellowship. He lives in Toronto with his wife Mariam (BSc 2007) and daughters, Zoya and Mishaal.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk

Lahore, December 20, 2022 (PPI-OT):Nobel’s youngest peace prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, was part of a distinguished panel discussion on Building Higher Education Institutions for the 21st Century. Organised by the Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) and the Syed Ahsan and Syed Maratib Ali School of Education (SOE) at LUMS, the panel engaged a packed audience in discussing both challenges and opportunities.

Dr. Talha Jamal Pirzada introduced the panel and said, “One of the core aims of the OPP is to increase Pakistani representation at Oxford, and also bring Oxford to Pakistan, and this discussion is a humble effort to do just that.” Much of the discussion focused on access to quality education. Ms. Yousafzai strongly advocated for greater access, particularly for female students. “The future for girls in Pakistan relies on the quality of education they receive. The biggest inspiration for girls is seeing women progressing in their professional careers. Their success stories inspire them.”

Joining Ms. Yousafzai was LUMS Founding Pro Chancellor and visionary, Syed Babar Ali; Professor’s Stephen Blyth, Principal, Lady Margaret Hall and Dr. Nick Brown, Principal, Linacre College from the University of Oxford; and Dr. Faisal Bari, Dean, SOE. The panel discussion was moderated by Professor Dr. Adeel Malik, University of Oxford, and co-founder of OPP.

Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, emphasised the role of exceptional learning in addressing grand challenges facing Pakistan and shared how the University’s Learning Without Borders perspective has led to a number of national high-impact interventions. “At the heart of Learning Without Borders are systems designed to put learning first in not only governance and decision making, but also in LUMS shared ethos.” He added, “Three indicators of exceptional learning and its impact can be seen in addressing issues about access, relevance and collaboration, all of which are grounded in LUMS values”.

Sharing his experiences from Oxford, Professor Blyth said, “Oxford and Lady Margaret Hall have done tremendous work to reduce barriers so that education is accessible to the most talented scholars regardless of their background.” Dr. Brown shared that Pakistani students are the least well-represented at Oxford, and OPP created by Pakistani academics aims to try and solve this problem. He added, “At Oxford, the debate has two pillars – access to quality education which is a basic human right, and access to talent.” Dr. Bari shared his views on the importance of infusing quality in education. “The challenge is not only to improve access to higher education in terms of statistics but by providing good quality education to yield the intended results.”

The discussion paved the way for a question-and-answer session during which the audience expressed their concerns about the higher education system in Pakistan and made suggestions for its improvement. The event concluded with remarks from Syed Babar Ali, “My hope is that universities including LUMS will produce future leaders, who are tolerant, liberal, open-minded and respect merit, and will think about Pakistan first and provide educational opportunities for all.”

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk

Lahore, December 19, 2022 (PPI-OT):Strengthening its international recognition, LUMS won three awards announced by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). LUMS is the Global and Best of Asia-Pacific winner for the CASE 2022 Circle of Excellence award in the Special Events: Online Commencements category for its ‘Commencement 2020 – The Future Awaits’.

Two additional initiatives, ‘Give a Day to LUMS’ and ‘Fostering and advancing women leaders in business’ have also being awarded the Best of Asia-Pacific in the regional round in the Fundraising – Targeted Campaigns and Appeals and Leadership – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives categories, respectively. Both were showcased at the 2022 Best of CASE Asia-Pacific Region Awards Gallery.

The awardees will be acknowledged at the upcoming CASE Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference in Melbourne, Australia on May 15-18, 2023. “LUMS is honoured to be recognised at the global stage, and is equally eager to participate in solving global challenges that face the country, the region and the world,” said Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, and LUMS.

This recognition marks the fifth international award that LUMS has won during the past two years. Earlier in 2021-22, the University won the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards Asia 2022 in the Excellence and Innovation in the Arts category, and last July, it won the CASE Platinum Award for its National Outreach Programme.

CASE’s Circle of Excellence Awards recognize educational advancement worldwide whose entries are selected for overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution, its external and internal communities, such as alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff.

About the Entries

The future awaits

LUMS has been selected for this prestigious award from over 4,500 entries submitted from 636 institutions in 30 countries. Held in July 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the online convocation ceremony celebrated the Class of 2020 under the theme, ‘The Future Awaits’.

It brought the community together, in the truest senses of the word – nearly 40% of the content was created, performed, and shared by students, student societies, alumni and graduating class.

Commencement 2020 was a first of its kind ceremony where, from the comfort of their homes, joined by families, peers, faculty, and the LUMS community from across the world, the Class of 2020 celebrated a milestone achievement. The live session, broadcast live on Facebook, garnered over 1,000 live views and has a whopping 2.6 million views to date.

Fostering and advancing women leaders in business

Advancing women leaders in business

A recent initiative, the 50% tuition fee scholarship for all women admitted to all of its graduate programmes at the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) at LUMS is a success story all. This scholarship empowers women to participate in business education of the highest quality, and stands to have a significant economic and social impact.

The scholarship also opens up options for organisations to hire more qualified women, where currently in Pakistan, only a mere 5% of senior managerial positions are held by women. The School itself is Pakistan’s only Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited business school and the only one in the world offering such a scholarship.

Earlier in 2022, AACSB which is the world’s largest business education alliance, also featured SDSB in its Innovations That Inspire member spotlight programme. SDSB became one of 24 business schools worldwide to receive this honourable recognition this year for its Women’s Scholarship Initiative.

Give a day to LUMS

Give a Day to LUMS (GADTL), brainchild of Founding Pro Chancellor, Syed Babar Ali, and spear headed by the Office of Advancement at LUMS, was a targeted campaign that not only focused alumni attention on simply giving back to their alma but about giving deserving others the opportunity to benefit from the same transformative LUMS experience that alumni have already had.

At LUMS, one in three students receives some form of financial support that makes the University’s mission of making education accessible to all, regardless of financial circumstances. The GADTL campaign was launched through various channels including a dedicated webpage, and campaign videos featuring the university’s leadership which were circulated through social media.

Customised emails, mobilization of alumni through chapter heads across the world and several other initiatives led to the total donations from alumni being raised to 23% within 4 months. Later in the campaign, a Telethon was held with live participation of 32 alumni, which reached a total viewership of 123.5K that help raise 42% of the overall funds pledged.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk

Lahore, December 19, 2022 (PPI-OT):The VC Office and the Learning Institute are excited to announce the Call for Nominations for the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence, 2022 – 2023. This is the only university-wide teaching award of its kind at LUMS which proudly celebrates the contributions of individuals who through innovation, commitment, and continued excellence in teaching have significantly enhanced the quality of their students’ learning experiences.

All instructors (faculty, adjuncts, teaching fellows, and professors of practice) who contribute to teaching and learning and have at least three years of teaching experience at LUMS are eligible to be nominated. Any Chair, Dean, faculty, staff, or current student can nominate an instructor if they can attest to the instructor’s excellence and effectiveness in teaching, as well as the impact that they have had on student learning.

If you want to nominate an instructor, please fill out the brief nomination questionnaire here. For a list of Frequently Asked Questions, please click here.

If you have any questions, please reach out to LLI Awards Coordinator, Ms. Fatima Iftikhar at fatima.iftikhar@lums.edu.pk.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk

Lahore, December 19, 2022 (PPI-OT):SpurSol has pledged to support the full study tenure of two National Outreach Programme (NOP) scholars at LUMS. The agreement was formalised at a MoU signing between Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, and Mr. Farrukh Omar, CEO SpurSol and Founder, Value Link. His brothers Mr. Zubair Umar (BSc Economics 2007), CFO, and Mr. Bilal Umar (BSc Economics, 2009), COO, SpurSol were also present at the ceremony.

Representing LUMS were Ms. Nuzhat Kamran (MBA 1988), Director, Office of Advancement, Dr. Basit Shafiq, Associate Professor, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, and Ms. Madiha Rahman, Office of the Dean, SBASSE.

SpurSol was founded in 2011 as an IT services provider specialising in custom software development and is trusted by thousands of clients across the globe for application development, web design and development, cloud computing and infrastructure, and consultancy services. The company has successfully developed a strong portfolio of IT products and well-recognised consultancy practices in the industry. The products are individually marketed and supported by technical experts of each industry.

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 alumni are making the university proud across the globe. She also highlighted the University’s effort to be accessible to talent across the country.

Dr. Ahmad appreciated Spur Sol’s support for the NOP and highlighted that it is through the generosity of partners that LUMS continues to provide inclusive access to higher education to talented students in Pakistan. “We are grateful to SpurSol for supporting an initiative that is very dear and important to LUMS. The goal is to ensure that the talented and deserving should not face any more disadvantages. We carry out outreach and conduct coaching sessions to prepare them for their journey at LUMS.”

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Omar stated. “SpurSol was founded with the aim of bringing about positive change and creating an impact in Pakistan. Giving back to the community and the country has been part of the organisation from our early days. As direct beneficiaries of the high quality of education and opportunities that LUMS provides, we believe in providing the same to others who may not have access to it otherwise.”

He added, “We believe that the IT industry can bring about transformational change in Pakistan and address some of the most challenging issues the country faces today. With this scholarship, we aim to assist with the development of future leaders who will contribute to the industry and the country. We also hope to set an example for other leading companies in the IT industry to come forward and support the NOP.”

Initiated in 2001, the NOP furthers the University’s longstanding vision of providing premium education to talented students across the country, regardless of their financial circumstances. The Programme has won the global Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Platinum Award 2021 in the ‘Best Practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ category. The CASE Platinum Awards recognise world-class programmes and practices in educational advancement.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk

Lahore, December 16, 2022 (PPI-OT):The National Outreach Programme (NOP) team headed to Karachi, Hyderabad, and other cities in interior Sindh, including Mirpur Khas, Tando Adam/ Mithi, Tando Muhammad Khan, Kotri and Khipro.

From November 19- 29, they visited more than 15 colleges and schools and reached out to almost 3,000 students. The team visited different schools in Karachi, including a school in Lyari, which Kiran Foundation administers, and NJV College, which Akhuwat Foundation has adopted.

Information sessions were held, and students were informed about the NOP scholarship. Other schools the team visited included Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Sir Adam Jee Institute, Concordia Colleges in Beaconhouse Head office, FG Boys College and FG Girls College.

A highlight of this visit was a successful session in collaboration with the Development for Human Resources (DOHR) in Tando Muhammad Khan, where more than 1,500-2000 students from surrounding towns and villages participated and got information regarding LUMS and the NOP. More than 5,000 students participated, with equal participation from men and women.

Students from diverse minority groups were also present at the NOP stall. Representatives of more than 24 universities and institutions participated in the expo. Vice Chancellors and Deans of different colleges visited the NOP stall and appreciated the work in making education accessible to a vast majority of students.

DOHR provided exceptional logistical support in disseminating collateral to prospective attendees and preparing for the session. Students were again briefed on the NOP process and were motivated to apply to LUMS to widen their horizons in pursuing their ambitions.

DOHR team is committed to promoting higher education in the province and provided unwavering support and warm hospitality to the NOP team in Tando Muhammad Khan. The NOP Team had a designated slot for their presentation session in the university’s auditorium. The presentation session had a turnout of more than 300 attendees, including students, parents, and teachers.

In Mirpur Khas, the NOP Team established contact with the Directorate of Education Mirpurkhas, which administrates more than 24 schools and colleges across the province. The team also visited Concordia Colleges in Beaconhouse Head Office, Shah Abdul Latif Govt. Degree College Girls and Ibn e Rushed Girls College.

Sessions were also conducted in Hyderabad, where the team visited different schools and colleges, including FG Degree College Hyderabad Cantt and Preston College for Boys and Girls. Punjab College for Boys and Girls and Govt. Boys Higher Secondary School.

Overall, the feedback received from educators was highly appreciated. The administration of the institutions thanked the LUMS NOP Team for visiting their students and stated that the session would prove very helpful for applicants wishing to apply to the NOP Summer Coaching Session. The stakeholders also praised the efforts to reach out to students from humble backgrounds in Sindh.

The NOP Team is grateful to the educational partners for their assistance during Outreach and hopes to see promising applications from the entire province of Sindh, including but not limited to the cities visited.

For more information, contact:
Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS)
D.H.A. Lahore Cantt. 54792
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92-42-35608000
Fax: +92-42-35725048
Website: www.lums.edu.pk