New Delhi: O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) held its 5th annual convocation at the Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi yesterday (08-08-2016). Delivering the convocation address, Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley said that though numerically India has large number of higher educational institutions, but none of them emerge in the global ratings. India must now concentrate in the next few years on at least 20 of them, 10 run by the state and 10 by the private sector, should break into world rankings, added Jaitley.
He also highlighted the importance of trained human resource globally. He said, “In most developed countries population is reducing” but pointed out that India had not been able to stabilise its population.” He noted, “While we are increasing in numbers the others are reducing, human resource becomes a very important economic resource and to shape these minds, make them globally competitive, make them true global citizens, you need institutions of excellence. The Jindal Global University, I have no doubt is certainly going to be one of such institutions.”
Further, the presence of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon was a source of inspiration for graduating students who looked upon her as a role model and felt inspired by her achievements. His advice to the graduating batch was to pursue excellence and think outside the box as “The world has started respecting excellence much more than ever before, the space for excellence at the top is always vacant, mediocrity is part of the crowd at the bottom.”
Sharing her thoughts on the occasion, Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon Limited, emphasized that students need to get passionately involved in converting challenges into opportunities and helping in alleviating human suffering while creating wealth and prosperity for all. “Always remember that ‘perseverance’ is the key to success and ‘failure’ is temporary but ‘giving up’ is permanent,” she said.
Mr. Naveen Jindal, Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University, said, “We have come a long way since 2009, when it all started. Today, JGU is being accepted as an exceptional private university in India that has produced high-quality research.” Defining the future vision for the university, Mr. Jindal said, “Our strategic goal is for some schools of JGU to break into the top 200 of the world universities in the next 5 to 10 years.”
In his address, Professor (Dr.) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, O. P. Jindal Global University lamented the lack of incentives to promote research excellence in Indian universities causing the country to lag behind universities in the developed world. He also underscored JGU’s commitment to promoting the role of women faculty. “47 percent of our faculty members across the five schools are women, with 38 percent of JGU’s leadership positions tenured by our women faculty members,” said Professor Kumar.
In March this year, JGU was awarded the highest rating, ‘A’ grade, in the first cycle of accreditation by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council. JGU is the first and only private university in Haryana to receive the ‘A’ grade.
On the convocation ceremony, 317 students awarded degrees on successful completion of graduate and post graduate courses.
