Over 2,350 undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students were awarded their degrees during the 54th convocation ceremony at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, on Saturday.
At least 2,357 students were awarded degrees and diplomas at the ceremony. The chief guest at the event was Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of the country’s microbiologists and virologists, who congratulated the students and said that IIT Delhi has a stellar record of producing brilliant alumni and exhorted students to uphold the institute’s legacy.
The president’s gold medal was awarded to Archit Babuna from BTech in Computer Science and Engineering. Meanwhile, the director’s gold medal went to Aditya Vimal from BTech in Civil Engineering, and the Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma gold medal was awarded to Dibya Jyoti Sarangi from MTech in Applied Optics.
The first four PhD graduates under the joint PhD programme of the University of Queensland-IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR) were also conferred their degrees.
“IIT Delhi has a long-standing tradition of producing outstanding alumni who have excelled in various fields, making significant contributions to both India and the world. This culture of rigour, dedication, and pursuit of excellence has become the hallmark of an IIT graduate. As you enter the next phase of your life, hold onto this legacy of scientific culture and let it inspire you in all you do,” said Dr Kang.
Meanwhile, Rangan Banerjee, director, IIT Delhi, said that the institute was in the midst of a curriculum review and the new curriculum will be introduced by 2024. “The curriculum review committee had discussions with student and academic units to incorporate flexibility, sustainability, and multidisciplinarity in the curriculum. The next stage is reworking the individual curriculum, and getting extensive external feedback. We hope to have the new curriculum introduced in 2024,” said Banerjee.
He said that this year, the institute has awarded degrees to scholars from different countries besides improving its record of conferring degrees on women students.
“Five hundred and eighty-five women students are being awarded degrees in this convocation. This is 25% of the total — much better than in the past. We are also awarding degrees to 15 international students from Finland, Sierra Leone, Russia, Bangladesh, Rwanda, Sudan, Nepal, Bhutan, and Ethiopia,” said Banerjee.