Outgoing President of Aga Khan University, Mr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha was honoured at a grand dinner hosted by the Chairman and Members of the University’s Board of Trustees, on April 28, 2006. The dinner was attended by academicians, ministers and senior officials of federal, provincial and city governments, members of the diplomatic corps, leaders of civil society, donors and well wishers of AKU. Several distinguished alumni and former staff members of the University were also present at the occasion, which also served as a welcome to Mr Firoz Rasul, who took over as University President on May 1, 2006.
Rich tributes were paid to Mr Kassim-Lakha, who has spent the best part of the last three decades steering the institution from its project status in 1979 to an internationally recognised centre of higher education in health sciences and in educational development, with eleven teaching sites in eight countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Mr Kassim-Lakha is widely credited with successfully introducing an AKU culture, which embraces excellence, moral and ethical values and meritocracy.
“President Kassim-Lakha is a man of extraordinary vision, commitment and energy,” said Ambassador Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of AKU, in his welcome address. “Under his leadership, AKU became an institution that radiates knowledge, and creates changes, benefiting countless people in the developing world,” he said. President Kassim-Lakha’s departure “marks the end of an era of growth, development and challenge that few people have the good fortune to experience… a period in the University’s history which will always bear the imprint of Shamsh Kassim-Lakha’s leadership,” concluded Ambassador Dehlavi.
Acting Provost Dr David Taylor spoke of Mr Kassim-Lakha’s “highly honed skills in being in several places at the same time”. He mentioned that thanks to the ground work done by Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, AKU is now at the threshold of a far-reaching and swift expansion, with the building of its Faculty of Arts and Sciences in the near future. In addition, an enabling environment has been created to foster the growing research activities and future enhancements to linkages with leading institutions worldwide.
Acknowledging the outstanding services of the outgoing President, Mr Firoz Rasul, President-Designate, said, “ I will be following in the footsteps of an icon, both at AKU and in the field of higher education in Pakistan” He observed that the work ethic and the culture of inclusiveness that pervades the institution today was a tremendous achievement that cannot be over-emphasised. He said, “My challenge will be to continue to build on the strong foundation to enable AKU to extend its reach and impact to wider disciplines in Pakistan and other parts of the world.”
Amidst thunderous applause, Mr Kassim-Lakha recalled in emotive terms his long and intimate association with the University from the conceptualisation and building to operation in several countries. “This is the realisation of the vision of the Chancellor, His Highness the Aga Khan for a globally leading university of the Muslim world” said Kassim-Lakha. “I have been most privileged and humbled, to have been given responsibility for this monumental task by His Highness.” Continuing, he lauded the role played by the Board of Trustees, without whom the University would not have progressed to where it is today, and paid special tribute to his faculty and staff colleagues who worked tirelessly, and with a missionary zeal right from the early years of the University. “My task was to create an enabling environment for professionals to perform at their best, and now this tradition has become ingrained in AKU,” he said.
Recalling the many challenges that AKU has faced over the past 30 years, he said,” In all our endeavours, at seemingly every turn over these formative years, we have been trying to do what many said could not or should not be done. And yet it was done. We did it by remaining steadfast in what we were trying to do. We stuck to our principles and maintained the courage of our convictions. We persisted in our vision of AKU, and we overcame whatever obstacles stood in our way.”
Mr Kassim-Lakha said one of his greatest points of satisfaction was that the University today is a role model in Health Sciences education, in cutting edge medical care and in the realm of educational development. Today, AKU is a major partner to the Government of Pakistan in matters of public policy and indeed the Government calls on the institution for advice on relevant issues based on its research and practical experiences.
He added that AKU would always remain firm to its founding principles of “Quality, Relevance, Positive Impact and Access”, and made special reference to the merit based, “needs blind” admissions policy which assured accessibility to education at the University.
President Kassim-Lakha noted that thanks to its large patient welfare fund, the University hospital is able to support the care of thousands of needy and deserving patients each year. The fact that an increasing number of donations are now coming from the corporate sector and individual philanthropists in addition to the Ismaili community is a reflection of AKU’s recognition as a national institution, trusted for quality and integrity of its programmes.
Expressing confidence in Mr Firoz Rasul, his successor, Mr Kassim-Lakha said that AKU will benefit from his vast experience in launching and managing high technology companies. Mr Rasul has served on the Board of Governors of the University of British Columbia in Canada, and has hands-on experience with the planning of four major institutions in Canada which involve fundraising, government relations, cultural outreach, intellectual discovery, research and community engagement.
Concluding his address, President Kassim-Lakha said, “AKU’s success owes immensely to the wholehearted support citizens of Karachi and their leaders have given to the University. The encouragement of successive federal and provincial governments has been critical to our achievements and I hope that you will continue to extend this support to my successor”.
