Academic institutions should be fountains of innovation

6th Convocation Ceremony of GITAM varsity

Hyderabad: The 6th Convocation Ceremony of GITAM University was held at its campus in Hyderabad on Thursday where over 200 students were conferred with B.Tech, M.Tech and MBA degrees. Sixteen students in the field of engineering and management were awarded President’s Gold Medals, and two research scholars were awarded Ph.D degrees. Dr Balaji Rao, Asst Professor, Dept of Physics at Gitam University, and Dr Shiva Reddy, Asst Professor, Dept of Mathematics were awarded for best research.

Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, was the chief guest at the convocation ceremony. The honorary degree of Doctor of Science was conferred on Dr G Satheesh Reddy by the University.

The chief guest congratulated the students on receiving their degrees and said that it’s an important day of their life. “Having spent 4-5 years at the campus you have learnt new things and are graduating in your respective discipline and entering into the society, this is the time where you will have to apply your knowledge and contribute to the nation.”

Highlighting the need for well-equipped institutes Dr G Satheesh Reddy stated, “Look at your own country, 25 years ago, it was learnt that India and China will be performing equally and will be the most developed countries, but somehow we are not parallel to China in terms of growth.

Take my sector for example, the number of institutes established in China to impart training are humongous, I don’t think we are anywhere close to them. The Prime Minister is looking for a complete change in this direction.”

Citing examples of the successive launch of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), he said that it shows that we are progressing well. “All these missions have propelled us into an elite club of nations possessing niche technologies. We are one step closer to our very own GPS.”

Stressing on the need for research oriented Defence studies to tackle the huge technological complexities underlying the development in Defence sector; he said “Universities should play a major role in the development of advance Defence technology. Academic institutions should become fountains of innovation; there must be innovation centres in Universities.

Students should be given a platform to explore their ideas and work on them at these research institutes. The Universities should collaborate with industries; they can research on technology needed so that students get a hands-on-experience with the state of the art equipment.”

Dr G Satheesh Reddy underscored that the strength of the nation today is the youth. “I encourage the youth to come up with innovative ideas and products. Many policies are being created to support the ‘Make in India’ programme.

In the Defence field, on our website we are going to list the technologies that we are looking for, avail such opportunities as we are going to fund these programmes. We don't have to go abroad looking for jobs, be the creator here in your own country and work towards improving the economic growth so the nation can flourish” he advised.

Prof K Ramakrishna Rao, Chancellor of GITAM University also congratulated the students and advised them to implement what they have learnt over the years. “Today the world is connected with internet; we need to research using this technology. The University’s vision is to become a super university with equal emphasis on a guiding value system and use of advanced technology.”