Rise in number of IIT-B PhD holders over last year

As many as 325 students were awarded PhDs this year compared to 230 last year.

If students were unhappy with decision of the management of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) to introduce changes to their annual convocation ceremony, it did not show on Saturday morning as 2,500 students received their convocation certificates on Saturday.

More than 1,700 students and parents gathered for the institute’s convocation ceremony on Saturday. (HT File Photo)

Owing to the large number of students graduating this year, the institute decided to conduct the first half of the event in the convocation hall, where students were personally greeted by the institute’s director Devang Khakhar and chief guest Rajendra Singh, chairman of Tarun Bharat Sangh. After lunch, students were awarded their certificates in their individual departments. “As there are more than 2,000 students graduating this year, individually conducting the process of giving away degrees would have taken hours, therefore, we decided to change the schedule this year. Students are excited either way,” said Narayan Rangaraj, dean (academics), IIT-B.

Not only has the number of students graduating this year gone up, so has the number of PhDs awarded by the institute—325 students were awarded PhDs this year compared to 230 last year. This year , IIT-B made news for ordering khadi uttarias (stoles) for all their graduating students from the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). While a press release by the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises said this move was to inculcate feeling of nationalism amongs their students, authorities at IIT-B refuted these claims.

More than 1,700 students and parents gathered for the ceremony.