On June 29, 2019, the auditorium was set and so was the stage for Convocation 2019 at the Shamirpet campus of the Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE). It was an extra special day because as many as 196 students from PGP Class of 2017 and 385 students from PGP Class of 2018 — the largest group of students passing out from IPE — were getting ready to bid farewell to the institute. "Can you believe that our auditorium was so jam-packed that we had to set up projectors outside for those seated there?," informs Prof RK Mishra, Senior Professor and Director, IPE. He says that the atmosphere was charged with excitement and glee. And why wouldn't it be? After all, the chief guest was none other than Padma Vibhushan Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, former Director of ISRO, Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc Bengaluru.
Prof Mishra recalls the pearls of wisdom that Dr Kasturirangan, who also heads the committee responsible for drafting the National Education Policy, dolled out in his address. The eminent astrophysicist in his speech spoke about how Science, Medicine, Management, Law and Communication may seem like different disciplines, but are actually interconnected and everyone needs to understand how. "He also said that we must all be aware of our social responsibilities and be responsible to people around us," states Dr Mishra. And what is the message that Dr Mishra would like to pass on to students? He has a two-fold answer, he says. "Firstly, happiness is found within us, we can't search for it outside," says the professor. He also would like to implore the students to not be limited in their thoughts, deeds or thinking. They must go beyond themselves and think about humanity, animals, trees and so on — the larger the better, he says. "Secondly, life makes us by giving us opportunities, promotions and more. But can we make our own lives? That is very important. We should be guided by our own reasoning and observations and not by what people say. Also, we must remember that we are dependent on something or the other, so we must make decisions accordingly," shares the professor.
On the academic front, IPE, as always, has been up to a lot. Prof Mishra informs that their teaching is moving towards a more research-oriented approach which involves more and more industry experts. "There is group teaching, syndicate teaching, shared teaching and so much more. We also have so many clubs now which enable students to learn from each other too," he says. They have started a new programme called the Advanced Leadership Programme where senior-level leaders are taken to cities like Rotterdam, Brussels, Busan and so on to understand Industry 4.0.
Under one roof
Dignitaries who were present at the convocation:
- K Madhava Rao IAS, President, Board of Governors (BoG), IPE and former Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh and Election Commissioner
- Dr P Rama Rao, Emeritus President, IPE, Chairman, Governing Council, IISc, and former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Ocean Development, Government of India
- Mahapar Ali, Former CGM (L&D) Corporate Centre, State Bank of India
- Prof S S Murthy, Dean, IPE
- J Kiranmai, Registrar, IPE
- Dr MLN Rao, CoE, IPE
For more on them, check out ipeindia.org
