Countries with large pool of trained manpower will lead world: Scientist T P Singh at University of Mysore convocation

Mysuru: T P Singh, SERB-distinguished fellow and INSA Scientist from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, said that the economies of the countries in future will be dependent on the strength of their educated and trained manpower. Countries with a large pool of trained manpower will lead the world, he said.

He was delivering the speech at the 105th convocation of the University of Mysore (UoM), in Mysuru, on Saturday.

Singh said, "Today, in the knowledge-based environment, training and skilling of the young minds is the key to progress. Therefore, investment in universities is critical, for increasing the number of faculty and for improving the infrastructure, especially in technical fields for economic growth, to achieve the goal of a developed Bharat."

He added, "With the world becoming more and more competitive, we need to increase the numbers and quality of manpower to become the strongest economy of the world with the largest trainable manpower. There is a huge demand for skilled workers in the world and the world has become more globalised. It is the best time for Universities to deliver as there are enormous opportunities to grow and prosper in this era of knowledge and knowledge based applications in the globalised world."

Singh said that "according to the strength of our population, India should be number one in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in future, but it will depend on data we generate in the labs. Therefore experimental research will always remain the key."

He told students, "the greatest lessons aren't found in textbooks-they are found in your ability to adapt, to connect with others and to remain curious and humble."

Chancellor of UoM and Higher education minister M C Sudhakar agreed on the need for more investment on Universities especially for technical education, in filling vacant posts, increasing faculty. He said, "We need to change the education structure from time to time to meet demands of the changing world. In the competitive era, we need to give job oriented education, and education which enhances human values."

Honorary decausa was presented to A C Shanmugam (in absentia) former MP and founder President of Raja Rajeshwari educational institutions, Bengaluru; Babu K Veeregowda, Vice President and retired Chief Transport Engineer; Shaheen Majeed, Global CEO and Managing director. Rajya Sabha MP, founder of Infosys foundation, writer Sudha Murty who was presented Honorary decausa in absentia in 100th Convocation in 2020 received it in person in this Convocation.

Sudha Murthy said, "Due to Covid pandemic, I could not receive the honorary doctorate in 2020. Happy to receive honorary doctorate along with talented students especially girls who have bagged upto 16 to 18 gold medals now. Happy about female students' achievement in the education sector. Their achievement would be good for the development of the nation."

Women surpassed men in the Convocation. As many as 63.18% out of 31,689 candidates conferred with degrees at the Convocation were female. Among 25,085 candidates, who were conferred with bachelor's degrees, 63.01% (15,808) were women.

Out of 6,300 candidates, who were conferred Master's degrees, 64.66% (4,074) were female. While 216 candidates shared 413 medals and 208 prizes, 139 were women. However, out of 304 students, who received PhD degrees in various subjects, 164 (53.94%) were male.

UoM Vice Chancellor N K Lokanath, Registrar V R Shailaja were present.