Punjab Engineering College (Deemed to be University), Chandigarh hosted its 48th Annual Convocation Ceremony on Saturday, 13th October, 2018 at Indradhanush Auditorium, Sector 5, Panchkula. H. E. Sh. V. P Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab and Administrator of UT Chandigarh, was the Chief Guest for the event. Shri Parimal Rai, Advisor to Administrator; Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta, Home Secretary and Secretary Technical Education and Sh. Sachin Rana, Special Secretary Technical Education were also graced the occasion with their presence.
To mark the beginning of the event, an Academic Procession was led forward by Prof. Sushant Samir, Registrar PEC, Sh. V.P. Singh Badnore, Sh. Rajinder Gupta, Chairman, Board of Governors PEC, Prof. Manoj K. Arora, Director PEC, faculty and other dignitaries. This was followed by PEC anthem after which Sh. Rajinder Gupta ji declared the convocation open. Esteemed members of PEC administration including members of the BoG and Senate, Director, Deputy Director, Deans, HoDs and faculty graced the occasion to celebrate the ceremony.
Prof. Arora welcomed the congregation with immense pride and unveiled the Annual Report of PEC. He gave a brief overview of the activities and achievements of PEC over the past academic year. Reflecting upon the introduction of new PG curriculum devised in compliance with Industry 4.0, he indicated the institute's commitment to provide quality education. He also informed about the MOOC courses opted from EDX, Coursera and SWAYAM platforms by the institute to broaden the horizon of students' knowledge. He spoke about infrastructural developments like Digital Library, Digital Language Lab, Student Activity Centre, sports facilities, recently inaugurated Solar Technology Park, and so on. He shared important milestones like the average package has gone up to 8.95 lacs per annum this year wherein the maximum package reached 34.0 lacs for UG placements that reassured the audience of PEC's continued focus on producing competent and employable engineers. Shifting the focus to the technical and cultural societies, he discussed the growth of cultural clubs and technical societies through the active involvement of students and their achievements in various competitions held across the country.
Sh. Rajinder Gupta, Chairman, BoG of the institute addressed the audience next. He highlighted the importance of creativity, initiative and endless learning to achieve excellence in any field of work. He implored the students to keep in mind the institute's expectations from them and be considerate of the greater good, no matter where they are and what they do. Admitting the changing nature of the workplace in an increasingly knowledge-centric economy, he advised the students to focus on creating jobs and work in the field of artificial intelligence. He asked the students to enjoy their success so far and draw a roadmap for their future goals and work relentlessly to achieve them. He quoted "Building one's wisdom is a constant life-long phenomenon and a moral responsibility. It's a moral duty because it's only through continuous education that we extend our understanding of the world. If you stop learning, progress in all industries, computers, finance, engineering, biology and other domains of knowledge will stop too."
Sh. V. P. Singh Badnore congratulated the young graduates and drawing upon his experience as a civil servant, he gave the graduates much-lauded practical advice on what a first-class engineer can do for improving public governance. Expressing his gratitude for being invited as the Chief Guest for this memorable occasion, he thanked the institute for this opportunity to speak to budding engineers of the nation. He gave the example of Prof. CV Raman's rise from an auditor to a Nobel Prize winning physicist and encouraged the students to follow their aspirations and be the best at whatever they pursue. He spoke of the importance of a holistic view of life, balancing career with joyful hobbies and the utmost need for repaying society through upliftment of those around us. He addressed the audience and said, "Performance leads to recognition. Recognition leads to respect. Respect leads to power. Therefore, aspirational performance strongly requires aspirational targets, and you should work hard, fast, smart, honest and in a disciplined manner over a long period of time to achieve these targets."
Degrees, gold medals and awards were presented to a whopping 737 proud graduates. Total 511 students accepted degrees across eight B.Tech programmes and 192 students accepted degrees across fourteen M.Tech programmes. Furthermore, 34 candidates were awarded Ph.D degrees.
A number of meritorious students, including 8 gold medalists and 9 silver medalists, were also honoured during the ceremony. Students were also decorated with other awards, including Kalpana Chawla Memorial Gold Medal, Aditya Miglani Memorial Gold Medal, Charu Mehta Memorial Medal, Sarvnipun Chawla Memorial Award, Administrator's Gold Medal, Advisor's Gold Medal, Sheilly Sachdev Memorial Medal and Charu Puri Award for their illustrious performance.
To mark an end to the auspicious ceremony, National Anthem was played. Thereafter, the Convocation was declared closed with the hope that the graduating batch will colour the skies with their worthy innovations and achievements and carry on the legacy of this glorious institution.