‘Dream high and act with planning and precision’
you dream high and act with planning and precision, you can do wonders for the society,” said scientist Dr Tessy Thomas at the convocation ceremony of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani.
Thomas, the project director for Agni-IV missile at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, was the chief guest.
She urged the students to create bridges between the government and the citizenry through start-ups or publicprivate partnerships and help the government in combating the challenges in the domain of health, education, environment, among other which the government cannot resolve alone.
BITS Pilani vice-chancellor Prof Souvik Bhattacharyya said 3,452 students will graduate from the four campuses of BITS — Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai— during 2016-17. Of these, 2,377 are undergraduates, 420 postgraduates, 543 are students of dual-degree programme and 112 are of PhD.
Of the total 3,452, more than 25% or 879 are female students. The number of students graduating from the
3,452 STUDENTS
WILL GRADUATE FROM THE FOUR CAMPUSES OF BITS IN 201617. OF THESE, MORE THAN 25% ARE WOMEN
Pilani campus was 1,372.
BITS Pilani was among the 20 institutes from India that secured a place in the QS World University Rankings, Bhattacharyya said.
Addressing the students, Bhattacharyya said, “I want you all to be secure professionally, and have a good life, but at the same time you must remain hungry, passionate, and also do something good for the fellow citizens and society at large.”
Prof Santanu Chaudhary, director CSIR-CEERI Pilani, who was the guest of honour, quoted Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, and told the students to begin the adventure for something new instead of treading a path followed by the majority. “Great things in the world have been the outcome of imaginations,” he said. Prof Govindan Rangarajan, Prof Narayana R Aluru, Harish Bhat, Raghu Rajagopal and Hari Menon were conferred with distinguished alumnus award by the institute.
The vice chancellor also highlighted the various achievements of the BITS Pilani faculty and students in his address, besides the activities of the university’s centre for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship.