Educational institutions should try to make students capable citizens of the modern world community, said the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind. He was addressing the 3^rd Convocation of the Central University of Gujarat at Gandhinagar today. The Governor of Gujarat Shri Acharya Devvrat, Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, and Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Shri Nitinbhai Patel, along with other dignitaries of the University were present on the occasion.

The President said that under the new National Education Policy, efforts are being made to encourage education of modern knowledge-science based on Indian values ​​with the aim to make our country a ‘knowledge super power’. Creating awareness among students about their duties in the changing world is also a major objective of the new education system. Our educational institutions should try to make students capable citizens of the modern world community. There is also a need to give special emphasis on the importance of public interest and morality by higher educational institutions. He stated that only by giving special emphasis on Indian values; we would be able to differentiate between our educational institutions and foreign educational institutions -based on western ideas.

Addressing the students, the President said that building a strong and self-reliant India is at the heart of our global thinking. Local resources, experiences and knowledge should be used for self-reliance. Students can make their education useful in the true sense by empowering local development through research and innovation with utilization of local resources. He said that we should always remember that our education should benefit the development of our society and country apart from personal benefit. By making efforts for the upliftment of the people who were relatively left behind in the development journey, they would be able to contribute towards building a better society, he added.

The President happily noted that about 55 percent of the students getting education in the Central University of Gujarat, are girls and in today’s Convocation ceremony out of 21 medals 13 were won by girl students. He said that this is a great achievement of this university. It shows a glimpse of change in our society and a picture of a new India.

The President noted that students from about 30 states are getting education in the Central University of Gujarat. He also noted that 85 percent students are from other states and union territories. He said that in this way the University campus is like a mini-India and is strengthening our national unity. He urged to the students from other states studying in the University to imbibe the culture of self-reliance, entrepreneurship and self-employment from the people of Gujarat.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister said that the National Education Policy 2020 is a vision document that will take education system to newer heights.  He said that Universities are not only educational institutions but are laboratories of nation building. Highlighting the importance of synergy between Industry and Academia, he said that the gap between both will be bridged through research and innovation. The Minister congratulated all the students who have received their degrees at the convocation. Students who have graduated today should follow the ideals of Sardar Patel and contribute to the society and to the nation.

A total of 244 degrees were conferred to the graduating students at the convocation. Of these 73 are Ph.D. degrees recipients, 26 are M.Phil. degree recipients, 121 are post-graduate recipients, and 24 are undergraduate recipients. A total of 21 CUG medals was also awarded to the students for securing highest marks in respective UG and PG programmes. Specifically, six students namely Ms. Nikita Goel (M.A. in English), Mr. Prajnadipta Panda (M.Sc. in Life Sciences), Ms. Asmita Nandi (M.Sc. in Chemical Sciences), Mr. Saumyadeep Bora (M.Sc. in Nanotechnology), Ms. Maithuma Narzary (M.A. in Economics), and Mr. Vijay Anand Minj (Master of Library and Information Science) have received their CUG Medal directly from President of India. Raval Prachi Umeshkumar (M.A. in Economics) also received the Smt. Vidyadevi Agrawal Medal from President of India for securing highest marks in the final semester examination for MA Economics.     

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