IIIT-Hyderabad Celebrated its 17th Convocation

Hyderabad, August 12, 2018: International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyderabad) celebrated its 17th convocation ceremony on Saturday. It graduated 423 students, with a record number of 136 research students, including 11 Ph.Ds. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Executive Vice- Chairman of Infosys, was the chief guest at the ceremony and delivered an inspiring and thought provoking convocation address on “How can you face a disruptive future?” Prof. Raj Reddy, Chairman, Governing Council of IIIT-Hyderabad presided over the ceremony. ParkhiyaParvKeshavlal, B.Tech Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) was awarded the IIIT gold medal in recognition of his outstanding academic performance. The B.Tech Best All-rounder award was presented to Anjali Anil Shenoy B.Tech in CSE. Eleven students received programme gold medals. Congratulating the graduating students and their parents, Prof. P J Narayanan said, “We encourage the new batch of students joining the ever-growing network of alumni to go out and conquer the world in their own unique ways and request them to keep a little bit of IIIT-H in their hearts and connect back with the institute of tomorrow to help push it forward.” Research-led education with a special focus on undergraduate research at IIIT-Hyderabad has resulted in the institute contributing immensely to the society through technology solutions as well as individuals who are equipped to solve unstructured problems. The institute lays emphasis on an education that produces competent, creative, and caring individuals with a mature world-view. Delivering his Convocation address, Kris Gopalakrishnan said, Nobody is able to predict the future. But we can say with surety that with innovations and improvements in computing, and advances in other technologies that leverage advances in computing, we will see significant changes in the way we work and live. Every field of study and every business sector will undergo change in the coming years. Some call this period the fourth industrial revolution. So how do you prepare yourself for the future. Some of these would have been taught to you formally, but most of it would have been informally communicated to you. I want to try and enumerate 5 key capabilities that you need to develop in order to be successful in your career. The five key capabilities he gave them were 01. Understand and foresee the role of technology in your lives; 02. Learn new problem solving capabilities; 03. Acquire new leadership capabilities; 04. Develop a set of consistent values and ethics in your life and 05. Be Customer centric and business aware. Prof. P J Narayanan in his directors report highlighted that this year 423 graduated (B.Tech, B.Tech-MS Dual Degree, M.Tech, Master of Science by Research, PhD, and MSIT programmes - 125 UG, 213 PG and 85 MSIT). 137 companies registered for conducting placements and made job offers to these graduating students. The institute had 100% placements in the past year. Our students are among the most sought after by the technology and product industry. ECE students secured a 34% increase in pay packages. Average salary of 18 lakhs. Research-based (B.Tech and MS Research) Dual Degree ECE students secure 40% higher packages that the B.Tech program. Offshore (international) offers with highest package being at 1.5 crore. Prof. P.J. Narayanan informed the gathering that TCS Foundation accepted the institute’s proposal for continued CSR funding for the Kohli Centre on Intelligent Systems (KCIS) to the tune of Rs. 33 crores for the 5 years towards making KCIS a self-sufficient and highly visible entity. Also he highlighted that Ripple included IIIT Hyderabad in their Blockchain University Research Initiative along with 16 other global universities. The institute will establish a Centre of Excellence in Blockchains to enhance the research in related areas. IIIT H is completing 20 years this year. Special efforts are being made to strengthen the connect with the global alumni is being made. The alumni have setup an active alumni scholarship program for needy students. The alumni have contributed about Rs. 72 lakhs for this in the past and 35 students have received financial assistance through the scheme, he stated.