President of India Attends 6th Convocation of Dr D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee attended the 6th Convocation of Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth at Pune today (June 26, 2015).

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the objective of education is not merely the acquisition of knowledge and the production of competent manpower. At a macro level, education leads to nation-building. At the micro level, it must result in character-building in students. Our education model must not only develop the mind but also create positive mind-sets. Expanding a student’s ability must go hand in hand with building his attitude. A creative mind-set combined with a positive attitude can help unearth solutions to problems afflicting the society like malnutrition, affordable healthcare, efficient energy use, drinking water and sanitation.

The President emphasized that there is a need to link education with research and innovation in a seamless manner to transform the Universities into great learning centres. He said that education disseminates knowledge while research creates new knowledge. Innovation converts that knowledge into wealth and social good. Promoting inter-disciplinary research and research at under-graduate level, boosting collaborative research and joint research papers, and encouraging bright students to enter the research field are some of the steps required in this direction.

On the occasion, the President also awarded Honoris Causa to Shri Sharad Pawar, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Shri Abhijit Mukherjee, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and Dr. Raghunath Mashelkar, National Research Professor, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune.

This release issued 1845 hrs.