President Ram Nath Kovind will attend the ninth convocation ceremony of Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (YSPUHF) in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on May 22.

The state-run university was founded in 1985 with an objective to promote education and research in the fields of horticulture, forestry and allied disciplines.

Former president R Venkataraman was the chief guest at the first convocation of the varsity held in the year 1988.

"This is a very proud moment for the university and we are thankful to the Honourable President and the Himachal Pradesh government for giving us this opportunity," UHF Vice Chancellor H C Sharma said. He said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Governor and Chancellor of the varsity, Archarya Devvrat will also be present at the event.

This will be the second instance when the President of India will be attending the convocation of the university. Former president R Venkataraman was the chief guest at the first convocation of the university held in the year 1988, the vice chancellor said.

The university will be giving out degrees to 462 students during the ceremony. Besides, students of MBA and PhD programmes will also be receiving degrees at the event.

Gold medals in eight disciplines will be awarded during the ceremony.