Alumni Ambassadors: Dr. Nahid Akthar

Dr. Nahid Akhtar is a lecturer in Mathematics at the Government College University, GCU in Lahore. She was admitted to the doctoral program at the University of Kaiserslautern in 2005. Here she completed her language course, her doctoral admission thesis and started her PhD. After almost three years, her supervisor Prof. Dr. Volker Michel moved to the University of Siegen and founded the Geomathematics group here. She changed universities with him and became a doctoral student at the University of Siegen.
"It was only one year at the University of Siegen and definitely a very busy year. I finished my thesis and spent most of my time at the Emmy Noether Campus of the University of Siegen. I was not able to visit the whole university during this time. I only knew a few areas of the city. But with the activities of the Alumni Academy, I am reconnected with the University of Siegen, meet up with my former Schools and have the opportunity to learn more about the university in different aspects. I think it's simply my second home in this world. I feel at home when I arrive or leave here. There is a strong emotional bond now. And I owe this to Dr. Susanne Padberg and her team, who don't leave us alone and continue to help us, involve us and motivate us. I have great love and respect for my university."

Dr. Nahid Akhtar: "This is the Government College University - also known as GCU, Lahore, in front of whose main building I am standing. Its architecture resembles a church and was built in 1856. Its tower is called the Gothic Lady. I have been working here since 2002 as a permanent lecturer in the Department of Mathematics. I have also been teaching German as a foreign language for several years.
The GCU was founded by the British government in India in 1864. It is one of the ten largest educational institutions in Pakistan with an enrollment of over 12,000 students and has 32 academic departments divided into five Schools. There are five research centers that focus on academic and industrial research and development projects. It has the highest graduation rate in the country, averaging 94.6% annually. Government College University is known for its historical roots and has produced eminent scholars such as poet-philosopher Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Nobel laureates Har Gobind Khorana and Abdus Salam, former President of both the United Nations General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan. It has produced a large number of international players, politicians, novelists, poets, thinkers etc. The emblem of the university, a torch, symbolizes the light of knowledge. GCU's motto "Courage to Know" represents the guiding principle of the student community."