“Students should always be driven by passion, curiosity, and dreams,” says Prof Deekshatulu

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Padmashri Prof. B.L. Deekshatulu, former Director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, was speaking at the 12th Convocation of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) on Monday

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“Most of our universities are attempting to produce 21st century engineers from 20th century institutions & curriculum.  Radical transformation will require radical actions. As we think about the challenges ahead, it is important to remember that students are always driven by passion, curiosity, engagement and dreams, said  former Director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, Padmashri Prof.B.L.Deekshatulu, in his address at the 12th Convocation  of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) on Monday, September 15.

He further added that in the long run, making universities and engineering schools exciting, creative, adventurous, demanding and empowering social environment is also more important than specifying curricular details. This should be the primary message for engineering institutes today.

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Padmashri Deekshatulu  said  that Graduation Day is an important event in one’s life. But, learning is a lifelong process. He quoted Albert Einstein that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For, while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet to discover and create.” His address dealt with engineering education & the role of the engineers in the changing world.

A total of 1028 students received degrees, 33 students received PhDs, 306 students M.Tech, one student received  M.Tech by Research and one more student received M.Arch by Research, 37 students  bagged M.Sc. and the number of students graduating as B. Tech. and B. Arch. is 650.

Vikas Vimal Mittal B. Tech (Mechanical Engg) and Ashwini Dilip Bharade B.Tech (Electronics and Comm. Engg)  shared Sir Visvesvaraya Medal for highest CGPA amongst students of all B.Tech. programmes. Vikas Mittal received 3 gold medals and Ashwini Bharade got 4 gold medals.

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Vikas Mittal highest CGPA B.Tech (Mechanical Engg), Ashwini Bharade highest CGPA B.Tech (Electronics and Communication Engg), Raj Parikh highest CGPA (Chemical Engg.), Vipula Junghare  (Civil Engg.), Bhavesh D Birla highest CGPA  (Comp.Science Engg), Snehal Raut highest CGPA (Electrical Engg.), Chandan Pande highest CGPA (Mining Engg.), Abhishek A Bhansali highest CGPA (Metallurgical & Materials Engg.), Prutha K Chiddarwar highest CGPA (Architecture) were  awarded Institute Medals. Apart from this, 16 M. Tech. and 3 M.Sc students were awarded Academic Excellence prizes for securing highest CGPA in respective branches. More than 35 awards were sponsored for students who have excelled in various subjects. The batch of Master of Science in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics was awarded with the degrees.

Speaking with Nagpur Today, gold medalist Vikas Mittal said that he was very happy as receiving the gold medal is a great feeling. Vikas is presently working with Tata Steel. He got placed with the company this July only. He thanked the college for its support and facilities.  During his four years at VNIT, Vikas had very actively participated in the extracurricular activities in the college. He was the convener of the event management committee of the college. And in spite of all these extracurricular activities, time management helped him secure such an outstanding performance, added Vikas Mittal. Ratan Tata is the role model of Vikas Mittal. In his message to the youth, he emphasized that hardworking with time management and putting your best efforts forth should be the mantra.

Nagpur girl Ashwini Dilip Bharde, who got 4 gold medals and shared her experience with Nagpur Today, said “ I am feeling elated, it is the blessing of my parents, family, teachers and friends.” Ashwini was offered a job at Finisar Malaysia, which she refused and is pursuing a Masters in Signal Processing & Network. Ashwini wants to do Research & Developement (R&D) in electronics.  For her stupendous performance, she says, “I enjoy electronics very much, in fact I used live electronics and used to go to depth of everything.”

IMG_7151Director of  VNIT Dr. Narendra Chaudhari  said , “Today is a very special day for the graduating class of 2014, who is ready to enter the world to work . Your stay in this institute was a manifestation of hard work and sincerity, going knowledge and exposure to academic aims to reach new heights in your future  life. Convocation is an auspicious  day in the life of a student. This is a day of fulfilling the dreams of parents and also it is an occasion to get the blessing from the teachers and academic philosophers”.

The graduates all together took the pledge. The program concluded with singing of the National Anthem.