The University of Management and Technology (UMT) awarded degrees to 4,363 students at the UMT 29th convocation in Lahore, and used the occasion to make an offer with province-wide reach: free access for the Punjab government to UMT’s AI tutoring and career guidance technology, so students everywhere can get round-the-clock study help and career counselling.
UMT 29th convocation in numbers
- Total graduates: 4,363 degrees awarded across four sessions
- Bachelor’s degrees: 3,570
- Master’s degrees: 21
- MS and MPhil degrees: 723
- PhD degrees: 49
- Medals: 62 gold and 68 silver medals for high-performing graduates
- Scholarships: 64 per cent of UMT students receive support; the ILM Scholarship Fund stands at Rs20 billion
- New announcement: an additional Rs100 million in scholarships for students from Balochistan
The UMT 29th convocation was a large ceremony even by the university’s standards. Its previous convocation, in December 2025, awarded 4,051 degrees, so the graduating class has grown again this year.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gabrielle Hain, via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Beyond the headline total, the convocation recognised its strongest performers formally: 62 graduates received gold medals and 68 received silver, alongside Academic Excellence Gold Awards, Certificates of Excellence, Certificates of Merit and Research Publication Awards for students and researchers. Four sessions were needed to confer all the degrees, a sign of how large UMT’s annual graduating cohort has become.
The AI tutoring offer to Punjab
UMT Chairman and President Ibrahim Hasan Murad made the offer in his convocation address. The university’s AI-based system provides tutoring and career guidance outside classroom hours, and Murad proposed extending it to the Punjab government and to other universities, creating a wider digital support network for students across the province.
The timing is deliberate. Punjab is preparing its AI Vision 2029, which aims to make the province the most AI-enabled in South Asia by 2029, and has set up an AI-enabled Delivery Unit to carry the work. Punjab Chief Minister’s Adviser on Artificial Intelligence Ali Dar, who attended the convocation, said the vision would be formally launched in November, and that an AI fellowship programme with UMT is also planned. A working university-built tutoring platform, offered free, gives that agenda a ready-made education component rather than a promise to build one.
Rs100 million more for Balochistan students
The second announcement of the day was about access. UMT added Rs100 million in scholarships for students from Balochistan, on top of the Rs572 million it says it has provided to Balochistan students over the past decade. Plans for a study centre and a specialised training centre in Quetta were also announced, following a request by Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti, who attended the ceremony and used his speech to call for stronger inter-provincial harmony.
The wider scholarship picture at UMT is substantial: 64 per cent of its students receive some form of support, the ILM Scholarship Fund has reached Rs20 billion, and the university’s contribution under the government’s Honhaar Scholarship Programme covers 920 students at an estimated Rs1.13 billion over their degrees. For a private university, that scale of aid is a central part of its identity, and it echoes the access theme seen in stories such as the Rhodes Scholarships won by two Pakistani students for 2027.
Why this convocation matters beyond one campus
Convocations are usually campus news. This one connects to two bigger stories: how fast Pakistani universities are putting AI into actual student services, and how scholarship money moves students between provinces. On the first, UMT’s offer will be worth watching as Punjab AI Vision 2029 launches this month: if public universities plug into the platform, thousands of students who never enrolled at UMT could end up using its tutoring tools.
On the second, Lahore’s universities continue to post headline results, with NUST ranked 3rd in Southern Asia in the QS Asia Rankings 2026 and 41 Aga Khan University researchers named among the world’s top 2 per cent of scientists. The UMT 29th convocation adds a different kind of headline to that list: not a ranking, but an offer to share the tools.
Sources
- Academia Magazine: UMT Convocation 2026, 4,363 graduate as AI takes centre stage
- NewzTodays: UMT graduates 4,363 as AI gains prominence at convocation
- The Lahore Tribune: UMT announces Rs100 million in scholarships for Balochistan students
- Featured image: an award presentation during the UMT 29th convocation ceremony in Lahore. Photo: Academia Magazine
- In-body image: graduates celebrating at a convocation ceremony (file photo). Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Gabrielle Hain, via Wikimedia Commons (file photo)
Umar is an engineer by profession and a passionate writer by passion. He has a deep interest in sharing good news related to Pakistan and has been working hard to promote the positive image of his homeland. Umar has written numerous articles on various topics related to Pakistan, such as technology, sports, culture, and economy.