The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee held its 20th Annual Convocation virtually this year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Streamed on YouTube, the recorded event saw degrees being conferred upon 1889 students across 26 departments in under-graduate, post-graduate and PhD courses.
Beginning with the institute's song, the event proceeded with the Director's address. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, congratulated the students and expressed his desire to conduct the convocation physically rather than virtually. The event's chief guest was alum and Mindtree-founder Ashok Soota. "It's a great achievement for IIT Roorkee that one of our ex-students has now returned as the chief guest of the convocation," said the Director.
While addressing the occasion, Ashok Soota said, "I am pleased to see the increased emphasis on R&D and consulting as it is evident from the large number of sponsored research and consultancy projects which have also generated over Rs 130 crore for the institution last year. However, more important are the innovations introduced in recent years. These include students’ representation in decision making, the same rules for the hostel of men and women, and no hierarchy amongst faculty.”
Held over three hours, the convocation saw the department heads and other faculty announcing the name of the students and their profile photos popping up on the left side of their screen, complete with their degree and department.
A total of 939 under-graduate students, 677 post-graduates and 273 doctoral students graduated from IIT Roorkee this year. "We have been able to make the shift to virtual quite early and easily. Around 240 of the total PhD theses were evaluated after the pandemic, through the virtual mode," added the Director.
