SPPU’s 109th Convocation Ceremony

Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) is all set to organise its 109th convocation ceremony on March 22 at the university campus itself. But unlike every time, SPPU has asked all affiliated colleges to conduct their own convocation ceremonies and therefore not all degrees would be handed over at the varsity level.

Only post-graduate and above degrees like PhD would be given in the varsity. Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and senior nuclear scientist will be the guest of the ceremony at SPPU.

One of the reasons why SPPU has asked its affiliated universities to have their own convocation ceremonies is the increased and unavoidable traffic jams in and around the varsity campus along with the huge cost involved with the ceremony itself.

Keeping this in mind, it was decided to decentralise handing over degrees. However, colleges weren’t too happy with the decision as organising convocation ceremonies would mean high expenses and extensive planning.

Coming back to the varsity’s ceremony, vice-chancellor W N Gade said that six departments in the university would hand out nearly 20,926 post-graduate degrees and 328 PhD degrees from 8 am to 4 pm. “Of the 328 PhD degrees, 124 are from the science faculty, which is the highest for any department. The management faculty has 7,860 post-graduate degrees, which too is the highest for this level,” he said.

About 55,022 under-graduate degrees would be awarded at the college level. For those who could not attend the convocation ceremony, they can collect their degrees from respective colleges between March 28 and April 25.