Dream Girl Hema Malini and the Metro Man Dr E Sreedharan accepted their Doctorates in Philosophy yesterday along with 255 BTech and 27 MBA students at the 2nd Convocation Ceremony in Sir Padampat Singhania University.

The University conferred degrees to their 2008 BTech batch and 2010 MBA batch. Gracing the stage, the panel seated consisted of Chancellor and Chairman- Yadupati Singhania, Vice-Chancellor – P C Deka, President – Ashok Ghosh and Vice-President- Rinu Ghosh.

The Guest of Honor were: Dr John Christensen Chancellor, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA; Prof. H Shimada President, Chiba University of Commerce, Japan.

The University’s passed out batches have performed excellently, achieving 100% placements in the MBA branch and 90% placements in BTech as pointed out by the Vice-Chancellor in his speech.  He also described the developments that have taken place in the  University, since the inception of the plan.

Prof Christensen and Prof Shimada discussed the relationship between the host University and their Universities and taught the basic rules to be kept in mind while preparing for the corporate world, to the students.  Prof Christensen related some wonderful facts to realize that only 7% of the actual population studies up to graduation program.  Prof Shimada bridged the gap between the tangled history of India and Japan.

The Chancellor then honored the students by presenting them their degrees as the Dean of Engineering, Dr Achintya Chaudhary announced the names of Engineering students and the Dean of Management, Dr Sushil Lalwani called for MBA students.

Nirmal Singh, Computer Science and Engineering was awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal and also the Vice-Chancellor’s Gold Medal.  Among the other Vice-Chancellor’s gold medalists were Apeksha Jain [MBA] and in BTech- Swati Kabra [BioTechnology], Deepak Paliwai [Civil], Siddhant Yadav [Electronics and Communications], Ansh Khanna [Information Technology] and Aakash Jain [Mechanical]

Nirmal Singh led the batch for the oath taking ceremony following which the students were officially declared as degree holders.

Although the Convocation is observed as a strictly formal event, Hema Malini managed to get cheers when she came on stage to receive the PhD.

In her speech, later, she reminisced about the time she’d spent finding solace in dancing and acting.  Dr. E Sreedharan talked about the challenges he was posed with when the 760 km long stretch of Mumbai to Bangalore Konkan Railway line was to be installed and when the next objective of Delhi Metro was posed to him.  Both of the extraordinary personalities were presented the degree for their outstanding achievements in their respective fields.

For Hema Malini, this is an icing on the cake as she recently also bagged the honors of having her picture put on stamps in Norway.  And for Dr Sreedharan this is just another landmark in the long run of recognitions that he has been creating for himself and the country.

The Chancellor then declared the Convocation closed as the last of the students was awarded.  The passed out batch have a brilliant life lying ahead of them, and the gift of receiving their degrees along with these imminent personalities will certainly boost their morale as they’ll always remember their last day at their beloved Alma Mater.

More pics of the program