The National Institute of Technology Rourkela (NIT Rourkela) held its 21st Convocation today. As many as 1,988 students with 457 female students and 1,531 male students have been conferred degrees. Many have also received dual degrees.

It is also notable that the female-to-male ratio of the institute has significantly increased from 1:6 to 1:4 in recent years, an NIT Rourkela statement said.

The chief guest for the convocation was Polavarapu Mallikharjuna Prasad, who serves as the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Coal India Limited. 

The degrees awarded included 17 BArch, 961 BTech, 38 dual degree (BTech and MTech), 54 integrated MSc (5 years), 168 MSc, 520 MTech, three MTech (by research), 21 MA, 39 MBA and 167 PhDs. 

NIT Rourkela has seen a rise in the number of female students passing out in different streams. This year, a total of 457 female students graduated, which comprises more than 20 per cent of the total graduating students. As many 173 girl students were in bachelor’s programmes, 228 in master’s and 56 in the PhD programme this year. 

This year, it added, as many as 82 international students are graduating, comprising 66 males and 16 females.

This year, eight students were awarded the Institute Gold Medal (10 Grams of 22k Gold) and five students were presented the Endowment Gold Medal. A total of 59 students will be the Branch Topper Medalists (Silver Medalist). There were also seven Endowment Awardees including one student who was granted a Rs 1,00,000 endowment award for being the Best Student Research Scholar for 2023. Four alumni of NIT Rourkela were presented the Distinguished Alumnus Awards.