Graduates should take the less travelled roads to achieve their ambitions once they step out of institutions, said Sandeep Verma, Secretary, Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), while speaking online during the 35th convocation function of SASTRA, a deemed-to-be university, on Saturday.
He said though taking a less travelled road would be a bit difficult in the beginning, problems and obstacles encountered in that route would help hone the adaptability and skills of individuals, who were out to prove themselves as successful, and contributing to the betterment of the society.
Mr. Verma said the board’s vision was to position the science and technology as the fulcrum for socio-economic transformation by supporting relevant scientific research and deep expertise in specific domains that address challenging national problems.
Presenting the annual academic report, SASTRA vice-chancellor S. Vaidhyasubramaniam said the knowledge acquired by the students was evaluated by conducting ‘hybrid assessments’ during the COVID-19 pandemic period and ‘examination incentive’ of ₹500 each was provided to students to help them to get the required broadband bandwidth to attend the tests. Several training sessions were also conducted for the faculty to help them adopt the new teaching-learning mechanism induced by the pandemic, he added.
Degrees were awarded to more than 4,500 students of various courses at the convocation, which was called to order by the Chancellor R. Sethuraman.
Earlier on Friday, an integrated administrative and student’s hostel block, constructed at a cost of ₹160 crore on SASTRA’s Thanjavur campus, was declared open by T.V. Narendran, chief executive officer and managing director, TATA Steel Limited.