The 53rd convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur will be held on October 22 virtually because of the pandemic COVID-19. It will be the first ever virtual convocation of the Institute, said IIT-K director, Professor Abhay Karandikar in his Facebook post on Monday.
IIT-Bombay also conducted its convocation in virtual mode in the month of August due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“I am delighted to share that the 53rd Convocation of the institute will be held on 22nd Oct 2020 from 4:00 pm onward. We invite all of you to the first ever virtual convocation of IIT Kanpur,” his Facebook post reads.
A total of 2008 undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students will get their degrees and nearly 100 medals will be awarded which will be sent via courier to them at their postal address. “We don’t want to have gathering on campus during pandemic. Graduating students may log in to take part in first ever virtual conversation,” the director said.
This year IIT-K did not conduct written examination for graduating students as the campus had to be closed in March following outbreak of COVID-19. Students, however, did appear in online exam held in June, the director said.
This year the chief guest for the convocation will be IIT Kanpur’s alumnus Dr Arvind Krishna, Chief Executive Officer, IBM. He has played a significant role in building and expansion of new markets for IBM.
“Our chairman board of governors Dr Radhakrishnan K Koppillil will preside over the Convocation,” he said. “Hope that you will join and witness the graduation ceremony of young graduating students,” director said in his tweet.
The event will be live-streamed on Youtube and can be watched by following this link– https://youtu.be/LL79CyTCD7A
