10th Convocation of Ahmedabad University
At the Tenth Convocation of Ahmedabad University held on November 29, 2020, 826 students received degrees which includes 608 students from the Amrut Mody School of Management,132 students from the School of Engineering & Applied Science, 50 students from the School of Arts & Sciences, and 36 students from School of Computer Studies. This includes four doctoral students - two each from Life Sciences and Engineering. This year we also graduate our first cohort of the Global executive MBA in Pharmaceutical Management and the lone graduate from the MA in Economics programme.
By inspiring hope and catalyzing commitment for social change in the testing present times, Professor K. Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India optimistically delivered the Convocation Address to the graduating students of the Class of 2020 at Ahmedabad University. He emphasized on the need to emerge from this pandemic, resolute in our commitment to reset the coordinates of our development. Build back better is the slogan of our times. That resolve must endure and not be ephemeral. Professor Reddy explained that even in public health, as in education and research it is necessary to create a confluence of life sciences, of quantitative sciences, of social and behavioral sciences, and of health systems sciences including health technologies and health management. He said, all of them need to come together even if they are being taught as separate disciplines at different institutions, they need to come together to build a robust public health service system which can provide good health to every individual across their entire life course.
Professor Reddy added that economic development certainly enhances population health, but health is also a great investment for accelerated economic growth. On the very dominant theme of the future, Environment and Health, he insisted that we are looking at a major challenge at this point in time of environmental degradation, and suggested correction of the corroded connections between deforestation, agriculture, climate change and human health. He quoted Nobel Laureate author Toni Morrison “If we do not create the future, the present extends itself”, and concluded that instead of a passive response, an active and assertive response collectively delivered by a chase in humanity can ensure a healthier and happier future for all people.
He added that it is important for the graduates to see how they can apply the interdisciplinary education that Ahmedabad University has provided them to enable multi-sectorial action to restructure and rebuild society on much better lines by getting rid of complex systems and narrow silos of study and linear thinking will not suffice and that is where Ahmedabad University’s interdisciplinarity approach comes in extremely strongly.
It was a memorable ceremony where the Chancellor, Sanjay Lalbhai marked the Tenth Annual Convocation as an important milestone in the building of the University. While speaking to the Class of 2020, the Mr Lalbhai articulated the new opportunities of the next decade in technology and healthcare, in new materials and manufacturing and in new areas of sustainability. Addressing the graduating students, he took pride in celebrating the graduates who are equipped with a well-rounded learning, with data and knowledge that they would explore through developmental domains and emerge in complex environments as leaders in their fields.
Addressing the gathering, Professor Chandra, the Vice Chancellor and Chairman, Board of Management, Ahmedabad University narrated the academic year 2019 being a significant landmark for the University. Ahmedabad remaking education – redefining how the University teaches and how students learn – marrying critical thinking & independent mindedness with an ability to learn to apply theory in real situations and connect ideas across different disciplines. In his notes, he identifies many systems of knowledge that are required to solve challenging problems. It provides for deep enquiry to develop expertise in a chosen area. Ahmedabad University introduced a new undergraduate curriculum, admitted the inaugural class to a liberal arts programme (i.e., the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Science programmes), and launched a very distinctive engineering curriculum as part of Liberal Tech approach to engineering education.
