4th Annual Convocation - A Brief Report
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IIT Bhubaneswar’s 4th Annual Convocation was held on Saturday, 12th September 2015. The venue was its very own Permanent Campus at Argul for the very first time in the historic Barunei Hills & Khurda Fort area.
The Chief guest for the Convocation was the Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development and Chairperson, IIT Council Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani. Also in attendance were other dignitaries from the academic world, industries and the government apart from Chairman, Board of Governors IIT Bhubaneswar, S. K. Roongta and Director, IIT Bhubaneswar Prof. Ratnam V. Raja Kumar.
This year a total of 215 students and scholars graduated, 109 B. Tech., 44 M. Tech., 12 Ph. D. and 50 M. Sc. degrees were awarded.
The Convocation began with a majestic and grand academic procession followed by the National Song sung by the students of the Institute.
The Director in his report touched upon the infrastructure developments in the permanent campus and highlighted the shifting of the students to the campus. He emphasized the achievement of the long cherished dream of the Institute to shift to its new campus with the shifting of all undergraduate, postgraduate and female PhD students (900 in number), some faculty and staff to the scenic new campus on 18th July 2015 with the commencement of the new academic year. He also thanked the state government in supporting various development activities of the Institute. The Director highlighted that the IIT Bhubaneswar campus will be developed as a ”Green Campus” and touched upon the large-scale plantation activities that had already been initiated.
The Director mentioned that the Institute has made considerable progress in Research and Development front in the last one year. A sizable funding of about Rs. 24.42 crore has been received by the Institute through 38 new sponsored research and consultancy projects during the year. Notable achivements being the Bay of Bengal Costal Observatory sponsored by Ministry of Earth Sciences and Design Innovation Centre sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resources Development. He also touched upon all the other salient developments including publications, collaborations & collaborative research, awards, distinguished visitors, student activities, placement etc.
A scintillating medals and awards ceremony was also part of the Convocation with Sushant Sachan, Mechanical Engineering being awarded the coveted President of India Gold Medal for topping all B. Tech. branches. Mr Pratik Nayak, Civil Engineering being awarded the coveted Director's Gold Medal for topping all M. Tech. specializations and Anudeep Nain, Mathematics being awarded the coveted Director's Gold Medal for topping all M. Sc. Branches. Several other medals and endowment awards were also distributed.
The graduates were awarded their certificates and were charged by the Senate and the Director. The President of India Gold Medal Awardee, Sushant Sachan lead all the graduates reading the academic pledge in Sanskrit.
The students and the audience were then enthralled by the rousing speech of the Chief Guest, Smt. Irani. She exhorted all IITians to “Stand up and Start Up India”, she invited IITians to make use of the Central Govt. scheme for enabling seed capital for start-ups. She also appreciated the efforts made by IIT Bhubaneswar under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan in adopting surrounding villages. She emphasized contributing back to the community being essential. In her brief and captivating address she inspired the graduates, students and faculty of the Institute.
The Convocation ended with a Vote of Thanks by the Chairman, Board of Governors followed by the National Anthem sung by the students of the Institute.