250 PhD degrees awarded at IIT convocation

Of them, 29 students received excellence awards for their research work. Three others, Ashwin R, S Vignesh and Pravesh Kochar, were presented with gold medals. A total of 2,389 students were awarded bachelors and masters degrees.

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Present at the occasion, Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi urged the students to use their knowledge for innovative ideas and technologies to bring India out of poverty. An electrical engineer himself, he quit his career in the 1980s to work against child labour. “In the 1990s, the United Nations state department said one million children were employed in the carpet making industry in South Asian countries. With a new manufacturing technology and constant awareness, we were able to bring down the figure to two lakh. As engineers, education must be used to convert ideas into reality,” he said.

According to the IIT director’s report, a significant increase in the intake of PhD courses had been observed in the last one decade, from 771 on roll in 2001-2002 to 1,879 in 2011-2012.

“The undergraduate and post graduate strength has also risen. From 6,359 in 2009-2010 to 9,207 in 2013-2014,” said IIT director Devang V Khakhar.

The institute received Rs 249 crore for research and development projects in the previous financial year, of which 70 per cent funds were from the government and 21 per cent from the industry.

IIT-Powai students also applied for 72 patents in 2014-2015, the highest in the last five years.

In 2013-2014, over 60 patents were applied for. Additionally, the institute has signed 25 memorandum of understanding with various foreign universities this year.