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On 9th October 1960 His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan opened a colloquium on the Present day Students Problems’

Date: 
Sunday, 1960, October 9
Location: 
Source: 
Source: Speeches II pg 45 – 46
Hazar Imam.jpg
Author: 
Aga Khan IV (H.H. Prince Karim)

On 9th October 1960 His Royal Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan opened a colloquium on the Present day Students Problems’ sponsored by the Punjab University Student’s Union at Lahore in Pakistan. On that occasion he announced award of 5 post-graduate scholarships for one year study in Europe or the Middle East.

Opening the colloquium, His Royal Highness said:

“The atmosphere in your University is one of sound intellectual pursuit and you know well what you are aiming at, when you enter the gates of this college and when you leave it” He hoped that further building of the University would be done “brick by brick” pointing out that was the process with all great universities including Aligarh and Harvard.

Referring to the observations made by the President of the Students’ Union regarding the need for funds for expansion of the University, Prince Karim said “There is not a chance that I could contribute to your University any sum which will knock off a large block from the Rs.25 lakhs which you are seeking.” But he added, “If you put up six bricks on one wall and your students by their contacts throughout the country are able to add another six, I do not think you will have trouble in finding philanthropists to match your own endeavours, and if you proceed in this manner, you will have the deepest love and affection for your University.

He further said, “We too know what is deficit-budgeting. We too know what it is to have high ideals but no tools with which to fulfil them. But we have tried to find an answer and from student to student, I think that you have found it too.” He said that the Harvard University, where he had studied in America, had to raise from private donations 80 million dollars in order to tide over its “financial difficulties.”

His Royal Highness Prince Karim also spoke of the efforts of his community to create for itself “those facilities which will enable to carve for itself an outstanding future,” and that as Imam of the Ismaili community his responsibilities were heavy.


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