Around 1,91,495 students of various Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) programmes were awarded their degrees on Monday during the online convocation ceremony of the University of Mumbai (MU). Seven new certificate and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) courses and five new centres will be started, announced Suhas Pednekar, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of MU.
Out of 1,91,495 students, 98,261 girls while 93,234 boys from various study disciplines were conferred their degrees during the convocation ceremony. Around 2,000 students were from Anthropology, 8,763 from Interdisciplinary studies, 1,11,244 from Commerce and Management and 51,487 from Science and Technology programmes.
Over 140 graduates were awarded PhD and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degrees. Medals were presented to 16 students who excelled in various examinations of the university.
While announcing the annual plan for the academic year 2021-22, Pednekar said, "In the near future, the Center of Excellence in Maritime Studies, School of International Relations and Strategic Studies, Lokmanya Tilak Study Centre, Anna Bhau Sathe Study Centre and Integrated Centre for Research, Diagnostic and Cure of Covid and other Diseases will be established soon."
Pednekar further said, "We will begin two new certificate courses in Aquaculture and Aquaponics under the innovative curriculum. In addition, we aim to start new courses such as PG Diploma in Industrial Safety and Management at Ratnagiri sub-centre, PG Diploma in Blockchain Development and Management in Information Technology, Certificate in Ferrocement Architecture, MSc in Material Science and PG Diploma in Maritime Studies."
The university has recently received a grant of Rs 5 crore through Rashtriya Uchchattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a holistic scheme of development for higher education in India. Pednekar said, "The centre for e-learning and computational facility will be set up soon for skill development based courses. A cheque of Rs. 1 crore has been handed over to the university through the confederation of the Narayan Guru Organisation to study the thoughts and philosophy of Narayan Guru."
Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chancellor of MU and Governor of Maharashtra said, "Instead of job seekers, students who have graduated should serve as job providers. In order to create a self-reliant India, there is a need to drive entrepreneurship with a focus on innovation in education in line with the changes taking place in the field of science and technology."
