Chennai, August 16 (MExN): The Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai, held its 14th annual convocation on Sunday, awarding degrees to 4,518 undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral students. Former Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, Dr T Ramasami, was the Chief Guest, with Mohit Jain, COO (Publishing) and Board Member of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., as Guest of Honour, and Dr Ganesanathan Geathiswaran, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka (South India), as Special Guest.
Presiding over the ceremony, VIT Founder and Chancellor Dr G Viswanathan congratulated the graduating cohort and highlighted that only about 13 per cent of India’s population has attained graduate-level education. He contrasted this with Canada’s 64 per cent graduate attainment rate among eligible youth, and South Korea and Japan’s roughly 53 per cent, stressing that India’s higher education expansion must accelerate to match its rapid economic growth.
Delivering the convocation address, Dr Ramasami emphasised the pivotal role of youth in shaping their families, the nation, and humanity. He noted that Tamil Nadu now produces several lakh engineering graduates annually, a sharp rise from just 740 a few decades ago, made possible by pooling all available resources. He also pointed out that since 2000, Tamil Nadu has emerged as a leader in R&D, contributing about 61 per cent of India’s peer-reviewed research papers—of which 35 per cent came from private universities, with VIT playing a stellar role in transforming higher education and nation-building.
Addressing the graduates, Mohit Jain urged them to pursue happiness alongside success, saying, “Work hard, compete, and build teams… but don’t be too obsessed with success. One of the greatest traps is believing that the next achievement will make us happy.” Special guest Dr Geathiswaran spoke on the deep historical, cultural, and trade ties between India and Sri Lanka, particularly Tamil Nadu and the island nation, separated by a narrow sea but bound by millennia of shared heritage.
Senior VIT officials, including Vice Presidents Dr Sankar Viswanathan and Dr GV Selvam, Vice Chancellor Dr VS Kanchana Bhaaskaran, Pro-Vice Chancellors Dr T Thyagarajan and Dr Partha Sharathi Mallick, Director Dr K Sathiyanarayanan, Registrar Dr Jayabarathi T, and Additional Registrar Dr PK Manoharan, also participated in the ceremony.
