Gandhinagar, July 27 (IANS) Eighty per cent of the 394 students graduating from the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, (IIT-Gn), here on Saturday, pledged donations even as the alumni and well-wishers extended generous funds to the 10-year-old institute during the 2018-19 academic year.
Addressing the institute's eighth convocation, Amit Prashant, officiating IIT-Gn director, said the institute had Rs 14 crore in donations from well-wishers in India and abroad. "The IIT-Gn's alumni are taking leadership in supporting the Institute. Six new Rs 1 lakh per year scholarships have been recently instituted by the alumni," he said.
Of the 394 graduating students, 145 received B.Tech degrees, 2 B.Tech-M.Tech dual degrees, one B.Tech-M.Sc dual degree, 105 M.Tech, 86 M.Sc, 21 MA, 27 PhD and 7 PGDIIT degrees. In addition, 53 students were awarded medals and awards, including 25 gold medals, 13 silver medals, and 15 medallion for excellence in various categories like academics, outstanding research, overall performance, innovation, leadership, social service and sports.
Delivering the convocation address, Swati Piramal, Vice-Chairperson, Piramal Group, and Director of Piramal Enterprises, said, "Public policy, science and innovation can change lives and create a huge impact. Science and innovation must be used to tackle national challenges of poverty and health."
She referred to tales of Indian culture and the 3,000-year-old Vedic texts that showed three paths to success - Gyana, Karma and Bhakti.
Encouraging students to pursue excellence in life, she said, "It's important to have a dream and a higher purpose as the higher purpose drives one towards excellence. We must always have an impossible dream. A dream may seem impossible, but with great effort and a noble cause it can be achieved."
Amit Prashant said 43 per cent of the B.Tech students graduating this year had received international exposure in the form of study abroad programmes, summer internships or participation in international conferences, while 45 students had opted to pursue higher studies.
On placements, he said 103 companies visited the IIT-Gn's campus this year and recruited as many as 75 per cent B.Tech students. Tata Consultancy Services recruited 10, Indian Oil Corporation and L&T Construction 8 each. Goldman Sachs offered the maximum package to BTech students, and Nutanix to MTech students.
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