Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was the chief guest at the convocation.
Jawaharlal Nehru University held its fifth convocation in virtual mode on Thursday where more than 500 students graduated from the university. University Vice-Chancellor M Jagdesh Kumar congratulated the students and thanked the faculty members for their contribution at a time when the entire world is battling the ill effects of the coronavirus epidemic.
Due to the epidemic, the event was organized in virtual mode. “This year has unveiled a series of events that have made us more resilient to our goals of excellence and achievement. Research scholars and faculty members talk about the quality of the effort they put into their work, “said Kumar.
“It is a matter of great pride for the entire JNU community that for the fifth year in a row, our university has been ranked number two among Indian universities in the NIRF rankings,” he added. The JNU VC spoke about the initiatives taken by the university during the epidemic, which included setting up vaccination camps and providing psychological counseling to members of the JNU community.
“The university has adopted National Education Policy 2020 and decided to set up a medical college. The university is in talks with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to set up a state-of-the-art research center. Rare disease,” he said at the event. To conduct multi-departmental and transdisciplinary research, the university has formed a special interest group, Kumar said, adding that despite the epidemic, research output has been higher than in previous years.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who visited the university, congratulated the supervisors and the scholars who have obtained PhD degrees from the university. “Our educational institutions such as JNU have a fundamental role to play in promoting quality education and empowering the public and youth to contribute to the nation building process. After more than three decades, we now have National Education Policy (NEP). Efforts have been made to provide holistic education to the youth.
“Based on accessibility, affordability, equity and quality, this visionary document will help create the India that our forefathers and great philosophers dreamed of,” said Pradhan. More than 550 PhD degrees have been awarded to research scholars at this year’s convocation.
New schools and centers have been established in the last few years like School of Engineering and Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship, Special Center for Disaster Studies, Special Center for National Security Studies and Special Center for Study of North East. The number of PhD degrees in India will increase further in the coming years, a university statement said.
(PTI)