President of the Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI) L V Muralikrishna Reddy on Saturday appealed to engineering institutes to respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Start-up India’ and ‘Stand-up India’.

Addressing academicians and students during the graduation day, gold medal and endowment awards presentation ceremony of the National Institute of Engineering (NIE) here, Reddy said it is essential for the institutions in the realm to include innovation and entrepreneurship in their academic activities to encourage new ventures.

“The students should have an understanding of the basics in the chosen discipline through conceptual and experiential knowledge. ‘Make in India’ call given by the prime minister may be the paradigm to develop technologies for the world. The paradigm shift in thinking is the need of the hour, as the field of engineering is not just catering to the traditional consumers, but a different set of clients that includes digital economy, healthcare, built environment, entertainment, media, sports, leisure among other fields,” he said.

Reddy said the students, in particular, are a confused lot in making a right choice to shape their careers. It can be addressed by seeking the advice of a mentor, especially the teacher who has a better knowledge of his or her pupils, he added.

He said, besides concentrating on the relevant issues, it is important to think about the future as the present knowledge-driven era may come across a different set of competencies in the next 40 to 45 years. The engineers have to invest time and effort to identify appropriate competencies based on his or her individual interest, aptitude and nature of work, he observed.

Lauding NIE, Reddy said it has been a pillar of support for IEI’s Mysuru local centre ever since it started functioning here. The fifth batch of 810 students of NIE were awarded degrees, followed by presentation of gold medals for rank holders in BE, MTech and MCA.

In all 29 BE graduates were given medals, followed by 16 from MTech and three from MCA. Endowment awards were presented to 33 students,  with Adithya S and Pramod G Kamath from Electronics and Communication Department and Padmashree M S of Civil Engineering topped the awards tally by bagging five each.