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PM to address Vaishno Devi University convocation
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NewsByte on 23 April, 2008 02:54:00
 
Jammu: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the first convocation of Shri
Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) on Friday, Vice chancellor Narender Kumar
Bansal said today. "The Prime Minister would confer degrees on 101 students in
various fields including management and technology," he said.
Bansal hopes that the university will secure the status of Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) or Indian Institute of Management (IIM). The university has
achieved the standards of excellence though it is still in infancy, Bansal told
reporters.
"The SMVDU has established itself as highly practical and achieved standards of
excellence. I expect the Prime Minister to accord it the status of either IIM or
IIT," he said.
Bansal was referring to the IITs and IIMs, autonomous engineering,
technology-oriented and management institutes of higher education established
and declared as institutes of national importance by India
Ahead of the convocation, Bansal spoke about the programmes and achievements of
the university since 2004, when it was created. He said that the university
started with only 54 students in August 2004 and now it has 850 students in
schools of engineering, management, science and philosophy.
These students are from across the country and were admitted through
competitive examinations. The vice chancellor said since a cancer hospital of
the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine was coming up, they plan to open a medical college
also by 2010. (IANS)