New Delhi, November 02: IIT Delhi has held its 50th convocation ceremony. A curtain-raiser press conference was held by the Institute before the convocation where the Billion Dollar Endowment drive was launched.
Billion Dollar Endowment drive
“This is the Golden Jubilee Convocation of IIT Delhi. We are very happy to announce the Billion Dollar Endowment drive, which was inaugurated by the Hon’ble President of India on Oct 31, 2019 in Rashtrapati Bhawan with an initial commitment of Rs. 255 crores by our alumni. Our alumni are entirely spearheading this fundraising drive. We are also in the process of building professional teams for this purpose,” Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi said at the curtain-raiser.
ISRO Space Technology Cell will be set up at IIT Delhi jointly by the IIT and ISRO, Prof. Rao has also announced.
Focused research projects in space technology
“The cell will work for carrying out focused research projects in the space technology domain with specific deliverables. It is also proposed that IIT Delhi as an Institute becomes an academic partner of ISRO in research areas, for example, AI, nanotechnology, functional textiles, smart manufacturing or any area of joint interest,” he has been quoted as saying to a national daily.
Prof Rao added, “IIT Delhi has also started 6 new academic entities in the last two years to realign its research focus with the modern trends and national requirements. We have also been able to enhance our research budgets by 300% in the last 4 years. In this convocation, we are also announcing two new Masters programmes and modifications to NIT undergraduate student admission process into IIT Delhi Ph.D. programmes.”
He said, “I am happy to report that the Institute is investing over Rs. 250 crores in augmenting its research facilities. Over Rs. 750 Crore infrastructure projects are currently underway on the campus. We are excited about the progress we are able to make in all our endeavours. Kudos to all our faculty, staff and students for their commitment to take the institute to the next level and special thanks to MHRD, Govt. of India and all our well-wishers for their support.”
