60,000th degree presented at IIT-M convocation; 2K students graduate

CHENNAI: As many as 2,084 students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) graduated during its 59th convocation held on Wednesday. The premier technical institute also presented its 60,000th degree since it was formally inaugurated in 1959.

A total of 2,084 students graduated on Wednesday, in the first convocation to be held in the physical mode after a gap of two years, a release from IIT-M said. “As many as 2,620 degrees (including Joint and Dual Degrees) were awarded to the students on the occasion,” it said.

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, chief guest, lauded the graduating students, and pointed out that the future was going to be a digital world and a digital economy.

“The adoption of digital technologies by everyone, rich and poor, has demonstrated that it has become a behavioural change. There is going to be no domain industry that is going to lead by itself, whether it is healthcare or manufacturing. That can happen only when all of you (students) play a role and it’s going to be an exciting role driving transformation across sectors,” added Chandrasekaran.

Pawan Goenka, chairman, Board of Governors, IIT-M, said the present decade was a very important one for the country. “The world order is changing. India today has opportunities like never before — across sectors and geographies. Technology is revolutionising every aspect of our lives. There could not have been a better time for you to graduate and make a difference to the lives of millions of people,” he said.

IIT-M director V Kamakoti awarded degrees to 2,084 graduates, including 423 BTech (25 with honours), 454 Dual Degree BTech and MTech, 401 MTech, 112 MSc, 38 MA, 38 Executive MBA, 68 MBA, 179 MS, 306 PhD and 90 web-enabled MTech for executives.

The PhD numbers also include 11 joint degrees with universities in foreign countries including Australia, Singapore, France and Germany.