The 44th annual convocation of the Madurai Kamaraj University was held on Monday with 232 students getting their doctoral degrees from the Chancellor and Governor Surjit Singh Barnala.
Seventy-two prizes and medals were given. A total of 39,491 candidates would be getting their degrees in absentia. Chief guest Kundrakudi Ponnambala Adigalar lauded the university for spreading higher education.
Presenting the annual report, Vice-Chancellor R. Karpaga Kumaravel informed the gathering that financial support given to the university for research activities had been enhanced to Rs. 16.60 crore this year from Rs. 16.50 crore. Another Rs. 15.42 crore had been spent on the University Grants Commission – University with Potential for Excellence scheme.
Last year, the university had established a constituent college at Theni district, where the gross enrolment ratio was only 5 per cent as compared to the national average of 12.5 per cent. Further, 11 community colleges has been started at Madurai, Virudhunagar, and Theni.
The varsity staff visited a number of foreign countries including Japan, Singapore, Australia, France, Germany and Israel for academic and research activities. The Vice-Chancellor had also taken part in academic meetings held at Australia and the U.S.
The university had conducted various seminars, workshops and conferences for teachers, scholars and students with financial support from the State and Central Government agencies.
The MKU reached out to over 75,000 students through 18 schools and its 74 departments in the campus and 72 affiliated and constituent colleges. The varsity's Directorate of Distance Education served 1.34 lakh students. Between September 2009 and September 2010, 753 candidates had registered for Ph.D, he said.
