National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is the philosophical document of the 21st century that aims to assimilate ancient with the modern and strive to produce well-rounded citizens of the world, Union Education and Skill Development Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan said. He also made a special mention of Swami Vivekananda and his guiding philosophy while addressing the 20th Convocation ceremony of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) Surathkal on Sunday.

According to an official statement, Pradhan recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “Jai Anusandhan” from his last Independence Day address to the nation. The aim is to place India among developed nation by 2047 when the country celebrates a 100 years of independence from British rule, he added.

Pradhan encouraged NIT Surathkal to create a full-fledged Sustainable Energy Department in order to make the technology institute a leading lighthouse in energy transition of the country within a decade. He further spoke about the key areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, data analytics, electronics, genome editing, 3 D Printing that are the way forward for Industry 4.0. He said that India will play a key role in future development of humanity and restore its glory as a Vishwa-Guru.

Furthermore, the minister inaugurated the newly constructed Central Research Facility (CRF) and School of Interdisciplinary Studies [CoEs] building with a total area of 10,394 square meters and a cost of Rs 48 crore and laid the foundation stone for “Construction of Lecture Hall Complex – Block -D” with the built-up area of 11,246 square meters and a cost of Rs 54.76 crore in the presence of Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, Dakshina Kannada, Y. Bharath Shetty, MLA, Mangalore North, and Prasad Krishna, chairperson- BOG and Director(A/C) NITK.. The Central Research Facility (CRF) is already established with a loan of Rs 80 crore from the Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA) of the Indian government.

Meanwhile, the convocation awarded degrees to a total of 1787 applicants, including 126 Ph.D., 817 PG, and 844 B.Tech candidates. 249 B.Tech students additionally received a Minor in other areas in addition to their B.Tech degrees. NITK awarded B.Tech (Honors) degrees for the very first time. In this convocation, nine B.Tech students and thirty PG students earned the Institute Gold medals and medals sponsored by other entities for achieving the best CGPA. Dharmendra Pradhan presented the medals to the NITK graduands, the statement noted.

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