The 49th Annual Convocation Ceremony for the graduates of 2015-19 batch of Punjab Engineering College (deemed To Be University), Chandigarh was held on 12th October, 2019 in the football ground of the premises.
Mr. Naveen Tiwari, the CEO and Founder of InMobi, graced the event as the Chief Guest for the occasion. Dignified members of PEC administration including the Director, Deputy Director, members of the Board of Governors and Senate, Deans, Heads of Departments and the distinguished faculty of the institute were present to support the graduating batch of 2019.
The event commenced with the arrival of the Academic Procession, which was led by Dr. Sushant Samir, Registrar, PEC and was accompanied by the BoG, the Director and the distinguished members of the senate and faculty of PEC. The Convocation was declared open by the Chairman of the Board of Governors (BoG) which marked the official beginning of Convocation 2019.
Following the recital of the PEC Anthem, Dr.Dheeraj Sanghi, Director of the institute, presented the annual report which was a brief overview of the activities and achievements of PEC over the past year. Some accomplishments were the introduction of MOOC's to the undergraduate curriculum with the help of platforms such as EDX, Coursera and Swayam, and a new M.E curriculum based on fractal credit system and Industry 4.0 compliance. M.E students have also been provided with an option between a research thesis to be done in the department,and a project with any industry partner. Students have now been given an opportunity to learn in other fine academic institutions in India and abroad through the credit transfer policy. In every semester,a week has been set aside for inviting experts from the industry to give lectures to students. This equips the students to face the industry challenges on the first day of their jobs.The 2018-19 session had an excellent placement season too. He also mentioned about the student's contribution to the underprivileged part of society through the AABHA project - which involves teaching young kids at government schools - and they have actively participated in all national programmes such as "Swaach Bharat Abhiyaan".
His address was followed that of Mr. Rajinder Gupta, Chairman, Board of Governor (BoG) PEC. After which the Cheif guest, Mr. Naveen reminded the students of the privilege to graduate from an esteemed institution in his speech. He mentioned what important milestone convocation is in ones life and urged the graduates to be grateful to everyone who helped them and guided them through their four years of college.
He believes that the societal mindset to secure life sways away people from taking risks and urged the students to take risks and be crazy, while also keeping in mind to live their lives on their terms and not on someone else's.
Following this, a multitude of awards including Silver and Gold medals, Kalpana Chawla Memorial Gold medal, Advisor's Gold medal,Aditya Miglani Memorial Gold Award,Charu Mehta Memorial Award,Sarvnipun Chawla Memorial Award, Administrator's Gold Medal and Charu Puri Award were bestowed on a number of meritorious students for their exceptionally good academic performance throughout the years. The medals and degrees were awarded to 496 B.E, 208 M.E and 35 Ph.D graduate students.
To mark the conclusion of the ceremony, the National Anthem was sung. It is expected that the graduating batch will honour the legacy of the institute and will continue to excel in the varied fields and careers chosen by them.