Over 680 students pass out from BITS Pilani

Hyderabad, Aug 10 (INN): BITS-Pilani Hyderabad Campus held its convocation for the passing out undergraduate, post graduate and Ph.D students here on Sunday.

Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, the Chancellor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani presided over the convocation. Padma Bhushan Dr. K. Radhakrishnan Chairman, Space Commission; Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO was the chief guest and delivered the convocation address. Prof B. N Jain, Vice-Chancellor; Prof V. S Rao, Director, Hyderabad campus; Prof M M S Anand, Registrar; Directors of other BITS campuses; senate members participated in the academic procession. The other dignitaries included members from academia, industry, BITS Alumni and administrative officials. The students receiving the degrees accompanied by their parents were present on this occasion.

In this convocation a total of 683 students received their degrees out of which 589 were undergraduate students, 91 higher degree and three doctorate degrees on this day. S K Harshitha of M.Sc. Physics received the gold medal, Mayank of Civil, the silver and Malde Nishit Ketan of Electronics and Communications received the bronze medal for the best academic performance in the graduating class of 2014.

Padma Bhushan Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Space Commission; Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO as the chief guest said, “I’m fascinated by the illustrious array of alumni who have made a difference to this country through their pioneering contributions, I congratulate the graduating students for fulfilling the first goal of university education.” He expressed that convocations symbolized accomplishment of a significant goal and the promise of an exciting future. His advice to the students was that they should make decisions on their profession and career, they should always bear in mind that they make a living by what they earn; they make a life by what they contribute.

Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla in his message congratulated the graduating students and their parents and told them to keep a few key points in mind. He talked about the need for continuous learning and picking up unprecedented opportunities and not letting them slide by, about giving back to society and maintaining one’s character and practicing the values of honesty, integrity and compassion, and about giving back to one’s alma mater.

The Vice Chancellor, delivered the welcome address and reported the activities of the institute. The report highlighted the achievements of BITS Pilani, and its four campuses taken together focusing on new thrust areas of technology enablement and quality assessment and assurance. He wanted BITS to be listed as one of India’s top 3 research-led technical institutes by academic year 2015-16, and be counted by 2020-21 amongst the leading 25 technical universities in Asia. He informed that this can be achieved by an aggressive plan to recruit research-focused faculty, improve the dynamic relation between PhD Programs and Sponsored Research, Upgrade infrastructure and engage industry in an increased manner.

He also mentioned the future plans of the Hyderabad campus and the challenges that limit the growth of universities, particularly those that are independent, and not publicly funded. In particular he mentioned two challenges educational institutions face (a) funds for creation of lab infrastructure to support research, and (b) rising costs of providing quality education and consequently rising tuition fees. He also included suggestive measures that the government may take in order to address these challenges.

Prof V S Rao, the Director in his speech presented a brief history of the Hyderabad Campus, this fourth campus of BITS Pilani was one of the dream projects of Late Dr K K Birla and was established in 2008. He was proud to mention that with a project outlay of Rs 300 crore, the campus was completed; with an auditorium which was inaugurated on August 9th by the Chancellor. This, he said, was accomplished mainly due to the support given by late Dr. K. K. Birla and the Chancellor Dr. Kumar Mangalam Birla and the cooperation of several governmental agencies. He also mentioned that the faculty and students of Hyderabad campus had been successful in obtaining sponsored research funds of about Rs. 25.23 crore, as on date, from different funding agencies like DST, CSIR, and UGC etc.

He said that in total, the campus had 90 projects out of which six projects were sponsored by institutions/ industries like DRDO, Tenova, Incozen and IIBT and another six Indo-International projects, in collaboration with Sweden, Brazil, France, Portugal, and Ukraine. The Director added that innovation and entrepreneurship was also given a significant focus in the campus. The Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE) was established in August 2013, with a vision to foster innovation driven entrepreneurship, in alignment with BITS Pilani’s Mission 2015 and Vision 2020. He said that, it was a one-stop source that offers multiple services associated with entrepreneurship.

The Director added that the BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus had set up a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) with a funding of Rs. 5 crore from the DST, Government of India. TBI’s focuses on promoting entrepreneurship in ICT for Healthcare, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.

His address also included the association of BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus with several State Government initiatives for innovation and entrepreneurship to provide engineering students with skills and vision to be the leaders in both innovation and entrepreneurship. The Director also mentioned about the faculty and student achievement in research and development at the campus. He also highlighted on the various technical and cultural associations which keep the students active and vibrant.

Dr. K. Radhakrishnan concluded with a note conclude that, during the past fifty years, Indian Space programme has been nurtured by dynamic, encouraging and supportive leadership at the national level, inculcating a spirit of innovation and enterprise in the organization leading to the delivery of several successful missions. ISRO is determined to establish space research as a catalyst in fostering self-reliance in advanced technologies, facilitating creation of national wealth and most importantly enabling a way to global leadership. Finally reverting back to his opening statement he ended saying, this is an example of making a life rather than making a living.

The speech was followed by the conferment of distinguished Alumnus Award to Raju Reddy. The program ended with a vote of thanks by Prof M B Srinivas, Dean Administration.