We can develop ourselves individually by reaching out to people around: Jagdish Mukhi

1st convocation of Bodoland University held

Our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR: The 1st convocation programme of Bodoland University (BU) was held on Tuesday at the premises of the university with Chancellor and Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi in the chair. Prof KK Agarwal, eminent educationist, chairman of National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and founder Vice-Chancellor of Indraprastha University delivered speech as the chief guest before the 3,195 passed out students of BU.

In his speech, Prof. Agarwal said, “Every convocation is a milestone in the history of any University on its perpetual academic journey and I am so happy to be writing on one such milestone today which will always be first in the series of such milestones.” He said that Bodoland University was established in 2009 as a state university located at Debargaon in Kokrajhar. It is the first and only university in the Bodoland Territorial Council region. The university is serving four districts of the region, namely Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri, with population of above 32 lakhs in a vast area spread over around 9,000 sq km, he said, adding that the BU has obtained recognition by UGC under clause 12 (B). He hoped that in the coming years, BU should soon be ready for accreditation by NAAC and NBA which would confer on the university a quality benchmark for standing out in the educational domain of the country. He suggested the BU authority to pay attention to quality and diversity along with proper documentation.

“The university should try to attract students from outside the region without compromising on the interests of the region and similarly, local students should be encouraged for internship and training in other parts of the State, outside the State and even abroad,” he said, adding, “Faculty is always the real backbone of any university.” He hoped that the BU would get all support from the local and State governments to recruit the best of the faculty in a timely and transparent manner. He also said the university needed the faculty to interact more and more with the outside world by way of participation in national and international conferences, seminars and workshops.

Governor and Chancellor of BU, Prof. Jagdish Mukhi said, “The Bodoland University is strategically well-located. Although it started in the year I998 as Kokrajhar campus of Gauhati University, it was upgraded to a full-fledged university in the year 2009.” He said if the BU could develop a good educational system, there would be a good flow of students from the neighbouring States of Meghalaya and West Bengal and it could also attract students from Bhutan and Bangladesh. He said a university stood for universal values and it should be open-ended for intellectual participation and dissemination of knowledge. “We can develop ourselves individually not by being closed, but by reaching out to the people around. A university is just like an ocean. It is vast because of its willingness to receive water from all sources like rain and rivers,” he said. He advised the students to look at themselves, try to know the purpose of life and educate themselves with true spirit.

Prof Mukhi said the world was having a burgeoning population because of which agricultural and forest lands were encroached more and more. “Temperature every year is rising by 2 to 3 degree Celsius where ice of Antarctica is melting very fast. There is frequent forest fire. Fire devastated Australian jungle and Amazon forest recently,” he said, adding that all these would result in major climatic change, including decrease of rain. He also called upon the young boys and girls to think globally and act locally.

The Vice-Chancellor of BU, Prof. Laishram Ladu Singh said the BU in its journey from 2009 had been able to complete five batches of postgraduate, 2 batches of under graduate, 4 batches of B.Ed, one batch of M.Ed, 5 batches of postgraduate in Human Rights and 6 batches of Diploma in Bamboo Technology. He said on the occasion of convocation programme, the BU conferred certificates to 40 PhD degree holders, 525 PG, 150 BA, 15 B.Ed and 56 B.Sc degree holders with 797 students among 3,195 passed out students. The convocation programme was also addressed by the chief of BTC, Hagrama Mohilary and Minister of Social Welfare and Soil Conservation, Pramila Rani Brahma.

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