LUMS Receives Accolades at the CASE Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference in Melbourne

It has been a banner year for LUMS, as the University has gained global recognition from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) for promoting access to education and championing the values of diversity and inclusivity. To date, LUMS has won a total of 5 awards!

Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, LUMS, was awarded the Asia-Pacific Leadership Award, at the CASE Asia-Pacific Advancement Conference in Melbourne held on May 17, 2023, making him the first recipient from a South Asian university to receive the award in recognition of his efforts to promote education and institutional advancement.

At the ceremony in Melbourne, he said, “The CASE Leadership Award will always belong to LUMS, and I am privileged to be part of the community that is one of the best kept secrets of the Global South”. Since 2018, Dr. Ahmad has played a pivotal role in strengthening and enhancing the unique perspective of ‘Learning without Borders’ that break through the barriers of social, academic and economic circumstances in order to advance the quality of higher education across the entire region.

Also present at the ceremony was Ms. Nuzhat Kamran, Director, Office of Advancement, to accept the Circle of Excellence awards on behalf of LUMS. These awards are a testament to the groundbreaking work that is being done in the field of Advancement that includes alumni relations, communications, fundraising, and marketing.

LUMS has won the Silver Award in the Special Events category for the 2020 commencement which was broadcast during the peak of the pandemic on July 25, 2020. The online convocation ceremony celebrated the graduating class success with the tagline, ‘The Future Awaits’ and was created in a collaborative effort by students, alumni and staff with Ms. Malala Yousufzai, youngest Nobel Prize winner as the keynote speaker, who was graduating from Oxford the same year.

Two other initiatives at the University were awarded the Best of Asia-Pacific. The first is in the Leadership: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives category for fostering and advancing women leaders in business through the pioneering 50% scholarship for women enrolled in graduate programmes at the LUMS Suleman Dawood School of Business. The scholarship, targeted at promoting gender diversity, has resulted in a 35% increase in women's enrolment and fostered unprecedented versatility and diversity in all the classrooms.

In the Fundraising - Targeted Campaigns and Appeals category, the ‘Give a Day to LUMS’ campaign was recognised as Best of Asia-Pacific for sparking a powerful response, with more than a 100% increase in alumni donations. The telethon held for the campaign, in which alumni from around the world participated, raised almost 42% of the campaign funds. To date, this campaign has enabled 73 talented students to pursue their education at LUMS enabling them to transform their communities.

The National Outreach Programme (NOP) at LUMS also received the Global CASE Platinum Award 2021 in the Best Practices in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion category. The NOP is LUMS’ signature initiative to make quality education accessible to students from the most disadvantaged areas of Pakistan. Commenting on the NOP, the CASE Platinum Award judges said, “This programme's ability—through disciplined outreach and coordination—to identify talent from all parts of Pakistan is impressive. This entry displayed sustainability and growth, and could be a model for organisations and universities globally, if willing to be intentional and make the financial investment.”