Rourkela: The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, organised its 16th convocation at the NCC ground of NIT here.
Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla delivered convocation address as the chief guest.
“India could well become a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030. So, there will be tremendous opportunities in future,” he said.
Kumar Mangalam urged youngsters to look at themselves not only as engineers but also as a force for change. He also called upon graduating engineers to turn into problem solvers.
At the convocation, NIT conferred degrees on 585 BTech students, 22 BArch students, 135 dual degrees (B Tech and M Tech), 75 integrated M Sc (five years), 417 M Tech, 126 M Sc, five MA, 38 MBA studsents, 11 M Tech (by research) and 126 Phd scholars.
Besides, 11 students were awarded Institute Gold Medals.
On this occasion NIT also bestowed four ‘Distinguished Alumnus Award’. They are Dr Swati Mohanty (1983 batch), Chief Scientist at CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar; Soma Mondal (1984 batch), a member of the Board of Directors of NALCO and SAIL; Dr Om Agarwal (1968 batch) for his contribution to research and product design in the semiconductor industries and Sanjay Mohanty (1980 batch) for Entrepreneurship and Public Life.
Presenting the report for the year 2017-18, NIT Director Prof Animesh Biswas said that the institute continues to be a sought-after destination for UG and PG students.
Wishing the graduating students the best in life Biswas said, “NIT is slowly climbing up the ranking rung. It stood at 215 in QS Asia University ranking. In the recent NIFR ranking awarded by MHRD, NIT was placed at 15th in ‘Engineering’ category and 42nd position in overall category against last year’s overall position of 46.”
