NIT Rourkela XIX Convocation: Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan to launch Blockchain-powered digital degrees

It is our greatest pleasure to inform you that the Hon’ble Union Minister of Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, will be gracing the 19th Convocation (hybrid mode) of NIT Rourkela as the Chief Guest on 13th August 2022 (Saturday), 10.00 a.m. onwards in the Bhubaneshwar Behera Auditorium of the Institute. Shri Jual Oram (Member of Parliament, Sundargarh, Odisha and Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence) and Shri Sarada Prasad Nayak (Member of the Legislative Assembly, Rourkela and Chairman of District Planning Board, Sundargarh, Odisha) will also grace the Convocation.

The Institute is celebrating its Diamond Jubilee.  Accordingly, the 19th Convocation is being marked as the Diamond Jubilee Convocation and is being celebrated alomg with the 75th Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. To commemorate these occasions, NIT Rourkela will be awarding blockchain-based digital certificates to its graduands. NIT Rourkela will be the second institute of national importance after IIT Kanpur and the first among NITs to implement the blockchain-based degree transfer technology with which digital degrees will be awarded to the students.

The institute will be awarding these digital degrees in assistance with IIT Kanpur’s C3i Innovation Hub as a part of the National Blockchain project, thus implementing futuristic technology into academic endeavours. This technology will ease the document verification process through swift receipt of an OTP to avail login. Degree certificates of the students can be accessed from anywhere in the world using smartphones, laptops, desktops and tablets since it is stored in a digital wallet for life. This digital wallet provides a secure, tamper-proof environment that the students can share with their prospective employers. It can be verified instantly, saving the laborious verification process carried out by third parties, which currently takes 2 to 3 weeks.

During the XIX Annual Convocation 2021, Six Institute Gold Medals, Five Endowment Gold Medals, Five Endowment Awards, 70 Branch Topper Medals and One Endowment Cash Award shall be given to graduands. A total of 11 Alumni will be conferred with Distinguished Alumnus Award–2021. A total of 1555 students (859 Undergraduate, 608 Post-graduate, 88 PhDs) will be awarded their degrees.

Because of the concerns of the resurgence of Covid-19 situation, it is decided that only Ph.D. graduates, Medal and Award-winning students will attend the event in person to receive their degrees.

The Convocation event is also coinciding with the Har Ghar Tiranga Celebrations.13^th August 2022, is also the inauguration day of this national event, wherein each campus resident of NIT Rourkela will unfurl the national flag at their homes. An awareness campaign will also be launched to educate the campus residents about the importance of our national flag and code of conduct to hoist the national flag. An array of programmes have been planned to celebrate this occasion, which will include painting competition, a marathon with the said central theme and a street play by students, a cycle rally by NCC & NSS cadets, an Institute Parade function involving security staff, NCC cadets and campus school children. The celebration will conclude with the Institute’s Foundation Day and Independence Day celebration on 15th August along with a cultural programme by the Student Activities Centre, NITR.

The enthusiasm to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav through various programs for Har Ghar Tiranga event followed by Convocation in the gracious presence of Hon’ble Union Minister of Education would surely make this Convocation special. Therefore, we invite you to attend the 19th annual Convocation of NIT Rourkela and request a wide coverage of this event through your esteemed media publications and channels.