IIIT-Hyderabad conducts 16th convocation ceremony

Hyderabad: Donning traditional attire in Khadi, graduating students of International Institute of Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-Hyd) received their degrees at the 16th convocation ceremony held at Brahma Kumaris Auditorium here on Saturday. Men turned up in handloom kurta pyjamas and with a stole while women attended the ceremony dressed in Khadi salwar kameez or sarees.

As many as 473 students graduated from the Institute this year. The highlight of the convocation was a record number of 84 research students and 16 PhD students receiving degrees.

Gautam Vepa, a graduating student of BTech Computer Science and Engineering bagged two medals including IIIT gold medal and programme gold medal. Two students Abhineet Jain, BTech in CSE and Soujanya Ponnapalli, BTech in CSE were presented with B.Tech Best All-rounder award.

This year, 116 companies had registered for the campus recruitment and the Institute has secured 100 per cent placement. Students of Masters programmes in IT received job offers from companies with average salaries ranging between Rs.14 lakh per annum and Rs.17.7



lakh per annum, whereas for the BTech graduates, the average pay offered was between Rs.13.4 lakh per annum and Rs.18.8 lakh per annum.

In his address on the occasion, Prof. Raj Reddy, Chairman, IIIT-Hyd Governing Council remarked that cars would go driverless by the year 2025.

He said “Proto-types of driver less cars are already operational. By 2025, I expect more than 50 per cent of cars will be autonomous. In future, cognition amplifiers with integrated intelligence will take over many routine tasks.”

Delivering the convocation address, GV Prasad, CEO, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories shared his life lessons with the graduating students. To be successful one needs to survive and grow, he said adding that adversity makes one permanently strong.

Prof. P J Narayanan, Director, IIIT-Hyd in his report said Avishkar, a six months accelerator programme of the Institute provides mentorship in business as well as technology and takes the start-ups from proof of concept to market. The institute also has seed fund of Rs.25 lakh to provide start-ups, he said.