Addressing the media, VTU Vice-Chancellor H Maheshappa said, “The executive council of VTU has approved the names of Nandan Nilekani and E Sreedharan for honorary doctorate and the proposal has been sent to the Governor for his approval.”
In the past, VTU has given the honorary doctorate to distinguished people such as A P J Abdul Kalam, Ratan Tata and Kasturirangan, who have contributed to the society in a great way, the vice-chancellor said.
The honorary doctorate will be presented to them in February, during the convocation of the 2009-10 batch. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to be the chief guest. However, the date for the convocation has not been fixed yet, said Maheshappa.
Release of rank list
Karthik H K of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore has won the gold medal for securing the first rank and highest marks in BE Civil Engineering. He has won 10 gold medals including the Balekundri gold medal.
P Abijith, Karthik’s college-mate, has won six gold medals. As many as 20 students will be honoured with gold medals during the convocation. Over 45,000 students will be conferred under-graduate degrees and 7,000 students will be awarded postgraduate degrees.
Autobiography distribution
VTU is also planning to distribute 50,000 copies of the autobiography of Sir M Visvesvaraya to all the engineering colleges to mark his 150th birth anniversary.
“From the next academic year, all students joining engineering courses will be presented with an autobiography of Visvesvaraya. It’s a bible for technology students, and it will inspire them all the time,” said Maheshappa.
The technology university is also in talks with more than 25 industries to have campus recruitment in rural engineering colleges. Most of the industries are enthusiastic to provide the rural students with opportunities, he said.
To increase the number of PhD guides, VTU has also decided to allow industrialists and other professionals to guide researchers. “In some colleges, there are researchers but no guides and in other places there are guides but no students; so in order to bridge this gap we have decided to go for online registration,” said the V-C.
Maheshappa said that the university has also started providing original transcripts and professional degree certificates at its regional offices. All officials, including the V-C will be available at one of the regional offices on Saturdays.