A total of 1,34,570 students were awarded degrees at the 55th convocation of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) here on Thursday.
Tamil Nadu Governor R. N. Ravi along with chief guest U. Kamatchi Mudali, Vice-Chancellor, Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI), distributed the degrees to the students.
Out of the 1,34,570 students, 1,11,144 candidates had passed through the semester pattern from the university and colleges under Madurai Kamaraj University, while 22,782 candidates passed through the distance education mode.
During the event, 640 Ph. D. degrees, two D. Sc. degrees and one D. Litt. degrees were awarded and 144 candidates were honoured with endowment prizes and medals for their outstanding performances.
Mr. Mudali, during his convocation address, said, “women empowerment is an issue of great significance in the current world. It is essential to improve the social, economic and political status of women. Women have faced subjugation and systematic oppression throughout history and education was a key prospect for their empowerment.”
“All India survey on higher education shows that Tamil Nadu’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) crossed the 50% mark- nearly double the country’s overall GER,” he added.
“Women should be encouraged to pursue higher education and Tamil Nadu government’s ₹1,000 incentive scheme for female students proves to be a significant one in this regard”, Mr. Mudali added.
Appreciating the power generation through nuclear fuels, he said, the county was facing a challenge in managing the shortage of energy resources. “While 1 kg of coal produces 3 KWh electricity, 1 kg of oil produces 4 KWh, 1 kg of natural uranium could produce 50,000 KWh power,” he pointed out.
Congratulating the students who received their degrees, he said that India has 66% of the world’s youth population of 66% who are under the age of 35, so the future of the students was intertwined with the future of the country.
Further, he asked all the students to use both idealism and ambition in the right proportion as idealism without ambition might not achieve much but ambition without idealism was not appropriate.
J. Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, Madurai Kamaraj University congratulated the students and listed the various achievements of the university in the field of academics, research and other projects.
The Governor presided over the function and Madurai Collector M. S. Sangeetha was present.
Minister and Senate members boycott event
In addition to K. Ponmudy, Minister for Higher Education and Pro-Chancellor, MKU, who boycotted the convocation event, two Ph.D scholars Suresh and S. Rameshraj refused to receive their degrees from the Tamil Nadu Governor during the convocation. Further, 15 syndicate and senate members of the university also boycotted the convocation event, association members said,
Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan, appreciating their act, had posted on X (formerly Twitter) that by boycotting the convocation they have stood against the Governor who subjugates the rights of the university and subverts democracy.
