Women power was on full display at the International Institute of Information Technology’s convocation on Saturday that saw over 200 students graduate.
Five of the nine Ph.D awardees and the eight gold medallists were women, indicating research and advanced fields of study in computer sciences is no longer a male bastion.
Last year and the year before, only three women were awarded doctorate. Even fewer women were gold medal winners.
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The 16 convocation ceremony of IIIT-H saw students dressed in traditional attire, as mandated by the institute.
Men wore kurtas while women attended the ceremony dressed in saree or salwar kameez. Both men and women were asked to wear ‘angavastram’ that had sparked a controversy last year at University of Hyderabad.
Founder of UTV group, Ronnie Screwvala ,in his convocation address, urged the gathering to pause and reflect on their career paths before embarking on achieving excellence. “You are a privileged lot as most of India does not have the education you have had,” he said.
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Chairman of the governing council Prof. Raj Reddy said he hoped the class of 2016 will be part of all major technological breakthroughs that await the world in the future.
He administered up on the graduates an invocation from Taittiriya Upanishad and admitted the students to their degrees. The administration also recounted achievements of the institute in the last year. It claimed researchers at IIIT-H produced 350 papers in top journals in the last one year and partnerships with University of Cambridge, Uppsala University among others, were created during the same time. The institute has claimed all its students registered for placement this year from B.Tech and M.Tech courses have been placed with highest package of Rs. 35 lakh offered to a B.Tech CSE student.