20 girls among 30 gold medallists at DSU

Girls outshone boys at the third annual convocation of Dayananda Sagar University here on Saturday. Out of the 30 students who walked away with gold medals, 20 were girls. In all, 525 students received their degrees during the ceremony.

Theja V Bhat, a BTech student, created history by becoming the first student to score 9.7 CGPA. She also won a gold medal, university officials said.

Dr V S Ramamurthy, Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), said students must make learning a habit. "Keep asking yourself what problems I can address with my competence. Even if you opt for a salaried job, do not become a techno-coolie, who will only take instructions and act accordingly, but be innovative in your work," he said and asked them not to worry about failures as they would only enrich their experience.

"Use your expertise and deliver the best. Be entrepreneurial, if you can. Innovation and entrepreneurship have always been recognised as engines of economic growth, more so in an era of fast-changing technology. Unlike discoveries that require training and domain knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship can be practised by anyone," he added.

Dr D Hemachandra Sagar, the chancellor of the university, said that while WhatsApp had become the go-to platform for expressing emotions, humanity had suffered.

Pro-chancellor D Premchandra Sagar, vice-chancellor Dr A N N Murthy and pro-vice-chancellor Prof R Janardhan were among those present on the occasion.