Byrnihat, Dec 15: The 7th Convocation of the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) was held on Wednesday wherein 1,332 graduates were awarded degrees. Out of this, 11 scholars were awarded Ph.D degrees, 823 students were awarded Post Graduate degrees and 498 students were awarded Undergraduate degrees.

Hon Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.) was conferred upon Padma Shree Dr Ravi Kannan, Director, Cachar Cancer Hospital and Dr Abdul Wase, Professor of Medicine, Wright State University, USA while Hon Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt) was conferred upon Prasanta Rajguru, Editor-in-Chief, Prag News for their immense contribution in their respective fields.

Delivering the convocation address, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU, New Delhi, Prof Nageshwar Rao, said, “The importance of higher education for the future of the North East and the rest of India can hardly be overstated. Simply, the more educated and skilled a person, the more productive and innovative they tend to be, and hence the greater their contribution to economic growth. I am happy to know that USTM is providing free education to deserving students from economically disadvantaged families.” He urged the graduating students to shoulder a special responsibility – to prove the extent of knowledge gathered in their university not just for easy scoring but to use it for the betterment of the society.Director, IIT Guwahati, Dr. T. G. Sitharam, congratulated the awardees for their achievement and also congratulated the entire USTM family for becoming the first private university from the North East India that has been ranked Grade ‘A’ recently by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. “Innovation, entrepreneurship and research are the three focus of a centre of excellence. I am happy to learn that USTM is having different schools and is giving emphasis on innovation and research”, he added.

The Chancellor of USTM, Mahbubul Hoque, welcomed all for their participation and said, “We aspire to become a world class university and appeal to all the stakeholders to join us in our endeavour to transform this university into a world class institution and participate in the nation-building process”. He also expressed his gratefulness to the Government of Meghalaya for its help in the creation of USTM. Award of degrees and gold medals

Earlier, the University report was presented by the Vice Chancellor of USTM, Prof G. D. Sharma. This was followed by award of degrees and gold medals.

– Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Best PG Gold Medal was awarded to Shehnaz Begum, MSc Mathematics.

– PA Sangma Best UG Gold Medal was awarded to Saanya Chaturvedi, B.Sc. Microbiology.

– Apart from this, 22 gold medals were awarded to the best Post Graduates of the respective departments while 18 gold medals were given away to the best undergraduate students from different departments. Hon D.Sc. degrees

The recipients of the Hon D.Sc. degrees have enormous contribution in the field of medicine and philanthropic service to humanity. Padma Shree Dr Ravi Kannan is well known for his immense contribution in the field of medicine specially for facilitating equitable and accessible healthcare services to the cancer patients from the underprivileged communities of North East India.

Dr Abdul Wase, Professor of Medicine, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, Dayton, OH USA was honoured for his outstanding contribution in the field medicine specially Cardiac Care and extensive philanthropic activities for the underprivileged society. Dr Wase accepted the Degree from the Governor on virtual mode as he could not come for the occasion.

Veteran journalist and commentator Prasanta Rajguru, Editor-in-Chief, Prag News was conferred the Honorary D.Litt. for his immense contribution in the field of journalism giving legitimacy to people’s voice and augmenting the role of media.