IIIT-Sri City holds convocation

Sri City, August 27, 2022: The Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)-Sri City conducted the 5th convocation on Saturday. Union Minister of State for Education Dr. Subhas Sarkar took part as chief guest and delivered the convocation address.  Mr. M. Balasubramaniam, Chairman, Board of Governors of IIIT-Sri City, Mr. C. Srinivasa Raju, Chairman, Sri City & Member, Board of Governor, Mr. Bhuvan Anadakrishnan, Director, Caterpillar Technology Centre and Prof. G. Kannabiran, Director of the Institute were present. Senate members, distinguished academicians, industrialists, students and parents from India and abroad have attended the ceremony.

Addressing the students Dr. Subhas Sarkar congratulated the graduating students and said ,”What you have achieved is not only the degree, but learning and experiences in the campus that you will cherish lifelong.” Quoting from Sri Adisankaracharya’s Bhaja Govindam, the minister advised the students ‘be enlightened with the power of knowledge.’ Stating that the golden era of startups has started in the country, he quoted the Hon’ble Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, and urged the graduates,”Showcase your talent and give a dimension to the flight of your imagination, be an entrepreneur, work for yourself and work for your nation.”

“I am glad to know that students have an opportunity to undertake a credit-earning project for building a socially relevant technology-oriented problem adopted under ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’,” he said. Concluding his speech, by quoting the Telugu poet Karuna Sri Jandhyala Papayya Sastry, the minister requested the students to practice compassion and contribute to the development of the nation.

Referring to Government of India’s various initiatives, such as New Education Policy, Atmanirbhar Bharath, Make in India, etc., Mr. Balasubramaniam said that swift transformation has been taking place almost in every field, and observed,”This, in turn, has implication for every one of us in the country, and we have no other choice, but to grow rapidly and to move quickly.”  He felt that education and research  at the university level understand and adapt new technologies and create ways to develop things  to meet our needs. Citing that a new generation of technology leaders was forged during covid crisis, he explained how  the special class  ‘leap-frogger’ companies have navigated the pandemic by implementing digital strategies.

”Our future growth relies on competitiveness and innovation, skills and productivity, and these in turn rely on the education of our people. Technology will not replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational. The new education policy which is ready for implementation is with lots of features and flexibility that pave ways for the country to be more dominant globally in the forthcoming years,” Mr. Balasubramaniam concluded.

Speaking on the occasion Prof. Kannabiran said, “Realising the potential value of National Education Policy-2020, we took early efforts for its implementation and evolved the curriculum that focuses on multiple perspectives of career and future of our students.” He told,”An important ingredient of our current success and future growth is ‘industry connect’. Our institution is uniquely located in a modern industrial city, viz. ‘Sri City’, that comprises a large number of MNCs and domestic industries. As facilitated by Sri City, which is our industry partner, we have access to over 200 manufacturing industries. Placement opportunities for our students have significantly improved over the past three years, and we have out in place a structured and systematic effort for training and placement.”

Prof. Kannabiran presented the details of Gyan Circle Ventures, various achievement and best practices of the institution. In the convocation degrees were given away to 218 students – 208 from BTech., 5 MS and 5 PhD students.

Established in 2013, IIIT Sri City has the unique distinction of being the first IIIT in PPP mode to introduce MS and PhD programmes. In a short span of nine years, the Institute has grown to prominence at national and international levels through the scholastic achievements of students and faculties