BENGALURU: Celebrating  50 years of its existence, Christ University is preparing for one of the largest congregations of students of its campuses across the country, with close to 18,000 students and alumni expected to join in the celebrations on July 4 at its main campus. 

The valedictory programme of its golden jubilee will be graced by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, who will address the students for about 20 minutes and release the golden jubilee publication, commemorating the event.

The formal programme, which begins at 1pm at the varsity’s main auditorium at Hosur Road campus, and concludes in 45 minutes, will be aired live on YouTube, said Dr Abraham V M, vice-chancellor of the university. Addressing mediapersons, Abraham said Chancellor Dr Edayadiyil, Padma Bhushan awardee Dr Devi Prasad Shetty and Minister for Large and Medium Industry K J George will be present, among other dignitaries.

The institute that was born out of the vision of St Kuriakose Elias Chavara, an educationist and social reformer, started out with 250 students and has grown to cater to 21,000 students. 

New programme for alumni

The university will officially announce a new programme for its alumni during the valedictory function. The joint programme with Chartered Institute of Management of Accountants (CIMA),  which is for the top alumni of the college, is an Accountancy star programme under which students will become a qualified Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) through an accelerated progression, only by writing the final level examination of strategic case study. This programme will make Christ University the only one in India to launch the A-Star programme with CIMA.

Bhaskar Ranjan Das, head of markets (South Asia) CIMA, said high-scoring alumni will have an accelerated route to the CIMA professional qualification. This also commemorates the 100 years of CIMA, apart from 50 years of Christ University.