A total of 1,338 students received their degrees in various disciplines today, July 16th 2021 during the 23rd convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, which was held online.
In the 27 years of its existence, more than 16,000 students have graduated from IIT Guwahati. The Institute adapted rapidly to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Online classes were held for as many as 448 courses, the assessment and grading also being completed using online methods for the ensuing semester.
Delivering the convocation address virtually, chief guest N R Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys, said, “The only instrument you have to remember is performance, performance leads to recognition, recognition leads to respect. I have hope that 50 years from now, this country will have 70-75 years old who have achieved their aspirational dreams. I have confidence they will create a developed India, an India that is not held back by problems of poverty, sickness, and malnourishment”
Supporting the nation in the fight against the pandemic, IIT Guwahati established a COVID-19 testing centre, quarantine centres, isolation centres, COVID care centers (operational presently) besides a large vaccination centre. Throughout this period, IIT Guwahati also initiated multitude of measures to contain COVID-19 cases within the campus while serving the district, state and the nation on a mission mode on various projects, thereby demonstrating its strong commitment to local, national and global problems.
The PhD and postgraduate admissions for July 2020 and December 2020 sessions were also completed in online mode. Short duration multiple online continuous assessments were held during regular periods. The components of evaluation and weightage were decided by instructors and announced to students at the beginning of the semester.
Congratulating all the graduating students and presenting the Annual Report, Prof T G Sitharam, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, “IIT Guwahati has set a goal to be recognized as one of the world’s top Institutes/Universities within the next three years. IIT Guwahati is trying to leap forward by embracing the rising demands of newer and interdisciplinary areas of research and technology development by incorporating NEP2020 policies, including industry interaction and participating in offering courses in futuristic areas, providing thrust to startup culture, entrepreneurship at all levels and creation of jobs in the North East.”
IIT Guwahati has also established Centre for Disaster Management and Research (CDMR) and Center for Intelligent Cyber-physical Systems with Master’s and PhD programmes supported as part of DST – Technology Incubation Hub activities, Center for Indian Knowledge System with PhD programme.
During the reporting year, IIT Guwahati created four new schools: Mehta Family Foundation School of Data Sciences and artificial intelligence – supported by Mehta Family Foundation from Houston, TX, USA philanthropic support; School of Health Sciences and Technology, converted Center for Rural technology to School of Agro and Rural technologies – received funding from Cadila Pharma thanks to IITG Chairman, BoG, Dr Rajiv Modi; Center for Energy has been upgraded to School of Energy Sciences and Engineering with new plans for offering bachelors, masters and PhD programme with an interdisciplinary focus.
IIT Guwahati achieved a QS World Ranking of 41 in ‘Research Citation per Faculty’, which was second best in India, while the number of research publications as per Scopus 2020 was 1,965.
At present, 279 research projects are in progress with a total sanctioned value of ₹291.79 crore. During the reporting year ₹62.33 crore was sanctioned for 79 new projects by different funding agencies. The major sponsoring agencies include the Ministry of Education, DST, SERB, DBT, BRNS, DRDO, and ICMR, among others. During the year the institute received 168 consultancy projects with a sanctioned value of ₹13.13 crore.
