It is indeed a big day for students all over the world. Every student enrolled in a university wait for the day of graduation, the day of convocation. It is on this day the university looks back to measure its achievement and marks the beginning of a new journey.
This year also, the KIIT University will be experiencing a feeling of pride when it will have its 12th Convocation on November 12. In the last twelve years since KIIT became a university, it has proved that education, intellectual endeavour and world-class teaching and research facilities are not only for the rich but for everyone including the poor and marginalised. looking beyond education has remained forte of KIIT where knowledge and compassion would rule supreme. I always believe that graduation is both a concept and a process for all the students in KIIT. It is a concept because in real life, a student graduates everyday and, as a process, it goes on till the last day of his life. On this day when my young KIITians step out of the campus, they will not forget the immortal word of Swami Vivekananda, “Take up an idea, make that idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on idea. let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”
KIIT has carved a niche for itself both in academic and research. The accreditation of NBA of AICTE and NAAC of the UGC and the Ministry of HRD’s notification granting ‘A’ Category, besides a berth in the Washington Accord speak for the quality of education provided in KIIT. In single terms, students passing out of KIIT can take employments and go for higher studies in as many as 17 most advanced countries like Australia, Canada, USA, UK, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri lanka and Turkey without going through the process of equivalence or recognition.
KIIT has been working towards meaningful collaborations with prominent international institutes of repute. KIIT has signed MoUs with as many as 170 universities across the globe. It is never a one-way traffic, for several senior KIIT members have been on the move to forge alliances with reputed universities of the world. Students from nearly 45 countries are studying in various schools of KIIT. Reputation and popularity of KIIT can be assessed from the large number of applications the university receives every year for admission into its various programmes. With the unique scholarship scheme introduced by KIIT, several students from Central Asia, Africa, Middle East and latin American countries have come to pursue higher studies in the university.
like all previous years, KIIT is poised for nearly cent percent placement. Most of the students could find more than one job which proves KIIT’s excellence. While one student got an offer of an astounding sum of Rs 37 lakh, this year it is likely to up further. While one student from law School got selected as a louis Dreyfusweidenfeld Scholar to pursue her higher studies in Oxford, many others have been selected to do PhD. in topnotch universities in Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Korea and Germany. In the last one year, faculty members and researchers have published nearly 600 research papers in peer reviewed journals. Over 400 research papers have been indexed in international database like Scopus. KIIT has been organising lectures by Nobel laureates at regular intervals.
In sports, KIIT takes the pride in sending the first-ever woman participant from any university to be in the 100-meter running event at the Olympics. KIIT student Dutee Chand represented India in the Rio Olympics 2016.
KIIT, unlike all others, gives much more attention towards social values. It is, perhaps, the only university in the world to integrate formal education with social work. The humane face of KIIT is best illustrated through its protégé Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), which provides food, accommodation, health care and education from Kindergarten to Post-Graduation to 25,000 poorest of the poor underprivileged tribal children absolutely free. KISS, as a unique experiment to eradicate poverty and empower the underprivileged section of people through education, has been recognised all over the world. In the list of the world’s 500 top NGOs, KISS found its berth being one of the ten best in India. The greatest recognition to this noble work, however, came from the United Nations, which accorded Special Consultative Status to KISS. KISS became the only organisation of any university in the world to achieve this feat.
For the young graduates getting their degrees in this convocation, I would like to say that the world awaits you to know what steps you will choose. This is the time to discover your life's destiny, so be adventurous, spontaneous and dare to be different in the world. live the dream, follow your heart and ‘view this moment as moving from a protected environment to an environment where you have to learn and listen because your whole world is going to be learning and listening. Spare a thought for those, not as privileged as you, to have been graduated from an elite institution. Think about a child who has not been as fortunate as you are. You must intensely aspire for deepening and broadening your knowledge, learn to experience the power within you and be guided by higher values. The greatest satisfaction in life lies in giving something back to the society which gave you the scope to be what you are today. Make sure you do not forget the less fortunate.
Your certificates and medals may gather dust on a shelf or displayed on the wall. But you always will be remembered for caring enough, for helping someone, for making someone feel special and appreciated for being kind. I have no doubt that you will get the very best in life.
(Dr Samanta is founder of KIIT & KISS)