Pune: Students must remain “lifelong learners” and continuously upgrade their skills as artificial intelligence, automation and digital technologies rapidly transform the world, governor and Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) chancellor Jishnu Dev Varma said during the university’s 127th convocation ceremony on Thursday.Varma urged the universities to strengthen their ties with industry and provide students with greater opportunities for internships, research, hands-on learning and entrepreneurship. The convocation ceremony saw the conferment of six gold medals, 1,07,357 degrees, 446 PhD degrees and two MPhil certificates.The SPPU has 859 affiliated colleges and over 7.5 lakh students. Vice-chancellor Suresh Gosavi announced that work on the university’s second international offshore campus in Dubai was being expedited following the success of the MIE-SPPU offshore campus in Doha.“Convocation is not the end of education. It is an important stage where students must take social responsibility along with knowledge,” Varma said in his convocation address.“Students should dream big but combine ambition with hard work, discipline and action. Be sensitive while becoming capable, responsible while being ambitious and committed to ethical values while thinking innovatively,” Varma told the graduating students.SPPU vice-chancellor Gosavi, while presenting the annual report, said knowledge generated by universities should directly address problems faced by the society.“Knowledge should not remain confined to laboratories or papers; it should reach farms, villages, industries and hospitals and help solve problems faced by society,” Gosavi said.He said the university’s work was centred on two pillars — appropriate technology and knowledge creation — with a focus on developing affordable, sustainable and environment-friendly technologies for the last-mile population.Thus, to encourage overall excellence among students, the university has introduced the Chancellor’s Medal from this year, backed by a Rs10 lakh fund.Among the university’s research and academic initiatives highlighted during the ceremony was PROHEAL, an affordable probiotic-based dressing system developed to help diabetic wounds heal faster.The university has also launched an MSc Virology programme in collaboration with ICMR and NIV and expanded digital examinations and on-screen evaluation.“Effective implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, skill-based and employment-oriented education and socially relevant research would remain key priorities in preparing young people for Viksit Maharashtra and Viksit Bharat,” Gosavi said.
