By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Dec: University of Petroleum & Energy Studies celebrated its 20th convocation at its Bidholi campus with a total of 3251 students from six schools being conferred their degrees. The Chief Guest on the occasion was Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh (Retd). The Special Guests were Higher Education Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat; Sharad Mehra, Chairman, Hydrocarbons Education and Research Society (HERS); UPES Vice Chancellor Dr Sunil Rai; UPES Pro-Vice Chancellor, Dr Ram Sharma; Registrar Manish Madaan along with the board members, academic council members, board of management members, deans, directors, and faculty.
On this occasion, the university also launched an ambitious and overarching Alumni Nurturing Programme called ‘NEST’.
At the 20th Convocation, the degrees presented for the academic year 2021- 2022 included 34 PhDs, 551 post-graduate (regular) degrees, 566 post-graduate (CCE) degrees, which comprised MBA, MTech, MA, MSc, LLM and MDes, and 2700 graduate (regular) degrees and 33 graduate (CCE) degrees in the domains of BTech, BCA, BSc, BBA, BA, BCom (Hons), BDes and various UG programmes of Law.
Along with the degrees, 11 ‘Gold Medals’, 3 ‘Instituted Gold Medals’, 65 ‘Silver Medals’, 8 Silver Plates for CCE Graduates and 14‘Certificates of Appreciation’ were awarded to the students during the ceremony.
Dr Sunil Rai presented the ‘’Vice Chancellor’s Report 2021-22′, taking the audience through the journey of UPES in the last one year and the achievements of the university, the faculty members and the students. He also spoke about the new scholarship programmes – Vijay and Jyoti, UPES’s social internship initiative – Srijan, the strong academic alliances that were inked, employee initiative- Project Happiness, UPES’s adoption of the Metaverse, the growth of the incubation and entrepreneurship cell at UPES and the research accomplishments.
Sharad Mehra, Chairman HERS, UPES, explained the objective of NEST. Under NEST, alumni can return for advice and support as they progress in their careers in 4 distinct areas – Skills – Upskilling avenues for the alumni in various courses; Careers – UPES is offering lifetime placement/career opportunities to alumni; Incubation for alums keen to make a mark as entrepreneurs with start-up incubator, Runway, running 5 incubation boot camps; and Further Education for those interested in higher studies, with 50% scholarship for their Masters, preferential allotments for sponsored PhDs and up to 35% special scholarships at partner universities
Governor Lt General Gurmit Singh (Retd), while congratulating the teachers, students, and their parents, applauded UPES for making its contribution in the field of Higher Education. “The university’s academic excellence is evident from its industry aligned programmes and excellent placements of students. I am also happy to know that UPES is focusing on addressing the needs of the 21st century learner and the future of higher education in India by implementing the ‘National Education Policy 2020’ at its campus,” he asserted.
Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat also extended his congratulations.
The vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Ram Sharma, Pro Vice Chancellor, UPES.