Gangtok, April 16: The first batch of 226 graduates from Sikkim University received their degrees today in a convocation presided over by President Pratibha Patil.
Sikkim University is the 23rd university in the country to be established by an act of Parliament on July 2, 2007. The university had become operational from the 2008-09 academic session, heralding a multi-disciplinary semester system in the four government colleges and five private higher educational institutions in the state.
One of the key academic pursuits of the university is to collaborate in academic activities with various national and international institutions and private, public and non-governmental agencies including a programme of Mountain Agriculture Heritage with Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome and United Nations University in Japan.
Complimenting the university for its mission to mobilise the rich intellectual heritage of the Himalayan region, the President said: “Social practices, folk traditions and ancient wisdom as well as rivers, glaciers and bio-diversity of the Indian Himalayas are rooted in our civilisation. Sikkim University should be the platform for bringing forth this very rich local heritage to the national and global community.
“The year 2010 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Bio-diversity. This would therefore be a good opportunity for the university to set up during this year, a genetic garden of rare, endangered and threatened species of Sikkim so as to spread awareness about the unique biological heritage of the state.”
The President also presented gold medals to three students — Saroja Pradhan, an MEd from Harkamaya College, Umesh Pradhan, BLiSc from Damber Singh College and Kuriakose Antony, BEd from Loyola College— for their outstanding performance.
Earlier, vice-chancellor Mahendra P. Lama said the university is expected to contribute substantially to the nation-building process by mobilising the rich intellectual heritage of the region and developing agencies and institutions that will facilitate cross border interactions.
The convocation was also attended by the governor of Sikkim and West Bengal M.K. Narayanan, chief minister Pawan Chamling and the university chancellor M.S. Swaminathan. Earlier in the morning, the President attended the concluding ceremony of the year-long golden jubilee celebrations of Sikkim High Court at Chintan Bhavan.
Source: The Telegraph
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