LUMS Wins Global CASE Award for its Virtual Convocation

LUMS is delighted to announce that it has won the global Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Silver Circle of Excellence Award 2022 for its first-ever virtual convocation. Held in July 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the online ceremony celebrated the Class of 2020 under the theme, ‘The Future Awaits’. LUMS was selected for this prestigious award from over 4,500 entries submitted from 636 institutions in 30 countries.

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 graduating class as well as student societies made the event memorable by creating an experience like no other with a well curated composition of virtual memories and video testimonials. The live session, broadcast live on Facebook, garnered over 1,000 live views and has a whopping 2.6 million views to date.

A highlight of the ceremony was an inspiring keynote address by Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Laureate and a global advocate for education and gender equity. Graduating from the University of Oxford in the same year, Ms. Yousafzai spoke to the graduates as a colleague and a friend, sharing, “The darkest moments are to be followed by the brightest. Our world may never be the same after this crisis, but we can hope it will be better.”

“This commencement felt personal and more like a warm welcome than a formal commencement. We find it so impressive that even with the distance, it felt probably more genuine than it would have in person. Just from reading their statements, it feels like this was a turning point for their perspective and will likely create better in-person commencements in the future. Very impressed that the planning only took four weeks and that within that timeframe they were able to gather 40% of content from students, alumni, etc.,” noted the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards judges.

CASE’s Circle of Excellence Awards are the premier recognition programme for educational advancement. These peer-selected and adjudicated awards honour colleges, universities, and schools worldwide whose talented staff have advanced their organisations with resourcefulness and ingenuity. Winners were selected based on several factors, including overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities, such as alumni, parents, students, faculty, and staff.

The Vice Chancellor of LUMS, Dr. Arshad Ahmad said, “We were quick to embrace platform learning even though we did not have a history of doing so. Accepting challenges as opportunities explains why LUMS is able to consistently achieve its aspirations. The CASE award is testimony that the pandemic actually brought us closer together. We are very pleased to receive this recognition and congratulate our staff who played key roles in designing and executing our first virtual commencement.”

Interim Provost, Dr. Tariq Jadoon also congratulated the LUMS community and said, “It is really heart-warming to see LUMS being recognised on the global stage.”

Nuzhat Kamran, Director, Office of Advancement, said, “It is an honour to receive this award. This achievement is recognition of the hard work and determination of the team to make the event a success despite the challenges brought on by a global pandemic.”

This recognition marks the third international award LUMS has won during 2021-22. Earlier this year, 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 the National Outreach Programme.

To watch the full 2020 commencement ceremony, please click here.