VELS University (VISTAS) located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu conducted its 13th convocation ceremony on Friday, June 30, and Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, Government of India, was speaking on the occasion. She shared how today, the country is in the process of developing as a hub of knowledge and as a result, work and opportunities that are knowledge intensive are growing by leaps and bounds, stated a report in The New Indian Express. 

Minister Sitharaman also pointed out that for the Government of India, higher education is of utmost priority, after which, she went on to highlight the achievements of the union government in the higher education sector. The minister revealed that at the moment, there are 1,113 universities and in terms of percentage, that is, 53% more than the number of universities that existed before the year 2024. 

The minister also made a note of the fact that there has been an 87% spike in MBBS seats. 

Here are the public figures who were conferred with the prestigious Honoris Causa awards by the finance minister:
- RS Munirathinam, Founder-Chairman, RMK Group of Institutions
- Girish Mathrubootham, Founder & CEO, Freshworks
- M Ramalingam, Professor, Department of Urology, Hindustan Hospital 
- Anju Bobby George, Indian athlete and Vice-President of the Athletics Federation of India 

As many as 4,305 students received their degrees during the event. The convocation ceremony was presided over by Ishari K Ganesh, Founder and Chancellor of the university.