Journalism of Courage
The 109th convocation ceremony of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) would be held on March 22 at the university campus. For the first time this year, not all degrees would be handed over at the varsity level as SPPU has asked all affiliated colleges to conduct their own convocation ceremonies.
Only post-graduate and above degrees like PhD would be given in the varsity. The chief guest of the ceremony at SPPU would be former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and senior nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar.
Traffic jams in and around the varsity campus have been known to be a part of the convocation at the varsity besides the huge cost involved with the ceremony itself. In view of such issues, it was decided to decentralise handing over degrees. However, colleges weren’t too happy with the decision as organising convocation ceremonies would mean high expenses and extensive planning.
Meanwhile, speaking about the varsity’s ceremony, vice-chancellor W N Gade said that six departments in the university would hand out nearly 20,926 post-graduate degrees and 328 PhD degrees from 8 am to 4 pm. “Of the 328 PhD degrees, 124 are from the science faculty, which is the highest for any department. The management faculty has 7,860 post-graduate degrees, which too is the highest for this level,” he said.
About 55,022 under-graduate degrees would be awarded at the college level. For those who could not attend the convocation ceremony, they can collect their degrees from respective colleges between March 28 and April 25.
