The Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) has postponed its annual convocation due to the prevailing circumstances around the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The two-day ceremony was to begin from April 3 with a pre-convocation cultural night for students, their families and the IIMK community, followed by the main ceremony, on the following day.

In a statement to the press, Dr Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIM Kozhikode, said, “Considering that the World Health Organisation has recently declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and the advisories issued by the Health Ministries of Union of India and Government of Kerala advocate avoiding public gatherings, we have taken the decision to postpone Convocation 2020 scheduled for April 3 and 4, indefinitely. At a time when the world is combating an unprecedented challenge of this magnitude, we at IIMK will stand by guideline issued by the governing bodies in the national interest. As dutiful citizens, we are vigilant towards the developing situation and have also geared up internally to take on the challenge. We will be announcing the new dates for the Convocation to the students in due course of time.”

Dr Chatterjee also added that, Nestle India Managing Director and Chairperson Suresh Narayanan has accepted IIMK’s request to be the Chief Guest for the occasion. A total of 663 students from various
programmes of IIMK were expected to be awarded degrees at the 22nd Annual Convocation Programme.