At the 99th annual convocation of University of Mysore on Sunday, various degrees will be conferred on 28,163 candidates. Among these, 64.5% (18,127 candidates) are women.
Women have excelled in almost all faculties – Arts, Science and Technology, Law, Education and Commerce – bagged the highest number of medals and cash prizes. Women have been consistent in their performance in the past convocations.
In all, 384 candidates will receive Ph.Ds. Among them, 166 (43.2%) are women and 218 (56.8%) are men. A total of 206 candidates will share 368 medals and 182 prizes and among them, 135 (65.5%) were women.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Friday, Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar said 19,538 candidates will be conferred with Bachelor’s degrees and 13,033 (66.7%) of them are women. Likewise, 8,241 candidates will be conferred with Master’s degrees and 4,928 (59.79%) of them are women.
Lingaraja Gandhi, who took charge as the Registrar recently, and Registrar (Evaluation) Mahadevan were present.
The annual convocation will be held at the Crawford Hall at 11 a.m. on Sunday (March 17). Minister for Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda will preside and Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, will deliver the convocation address. At 3.30 p.m., the university has organised a presentation of degrees ceremony in which Ph.D degrees will be conferred. B.V.R. Chowdari, vice-president, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, will be the chief guest.
Reasons
Prof. Kumar said the reason behind women outshining men in all departments was the rise in the number of women candidates for admission, that was more than 50%, as men preferred other disciplines, including engineering. Another reason for a higher number of women in PG courses is that many men shift to other courses or take up jobs after graduation, he reasoned.
This year, the number of candidates is higher than last year’s. A total of 27,502 candidates had received degrees in 2018. However, the number of candidates receiving Ph.D degrees is lesser this year. A total of 575 candidates had received Ph.D degrees last year.
Varsity seeks EC nod for Minister’s attendance
Whether Minister for Higher Education G.T. Deve Gowda, who is also Pro-Chancellor, will preside over the 99th annual convocation of University of Mysore on Sunday depends on the Election Commission’s permission since the model code of conduct in force.
With Governor and Chancellor Vajubai Vala not attending, Mr. Gowda has to preside over the event in his capacity as Pro-Chancellor. The university had already printed the convocation invitations that mentioned that he would preside over the event.
Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar said, “We have written to the EC seeking permission for the Minister’s participation.” He said the Governor was pre-occupied on Sunday (March 17) and therefore the Pro-Chancellor was presiding it.