As many as 253 candidates will receive their degrees and two candidates their postgraduate degrees in-person during the eighth annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Information Technology Dharwad which will be held on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference on IIIT Dharwad campus on Wednesday, Director of IIIT Dharwad Mahadev Prasanna said that Director of IIT Delhi Rangan Banerjee will deliver the address at the convocation which will begin at 10 a.m.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi will be the chief guest and chairman of the Board of Governance Jalaj Dani will be the guest of honour.

Prof. Mahadeva Prasanna said that of the total 253 B.Tech candidates, 136 are from Computer Science and Engineering, 66 from Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and 51 from Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Apart from conferring degrees, six medals, including the President of India gold medal, director’s medal for best outgoing girl student and department topper’s medals, will be presented during the convocation, he said.

New course

He said that in the current academic year, they will be introducing a B.Tech offline and an M.Tech online course on AI and Computing with a total intake of 85 students.

Prof. Mahadeva Prasanna said that the M.Tech online course is being introduced under Study India programme which is aimed at attracting students from abroad.

 “This apart, the Board of Governance has given its approval to start a bridge course for B.Sc Computer Science and BCA students who after completion can apply for M.Tech,” he said.

He said that IIIT Dharwad was the lone institution in India where Quantum Computing is being introduced in a tier-two city. The State government has funded ₹18 crore for Quantum Computer and it will be commissioned shortly, he said.

About the new initiatives, the director said that the Board of Governance has approved a project for constructing a five-storey research park at a cost of ₹125 crore.

He also said that a 1,000-capacity hostel for boys will be inaugurated in a few months. A 30-room guesthouse is nearing completion and two new classrooms with a seating capacity of 240 are being constructed, he said.

On placements, he said that the institution has registered a 68% placement rate with the highest offer being ₹65 lakh per annum, with the average being ₹11.9 lakh per annum.

Dean (Student Welfare) K. Gopinath, Registrar Satish Annigeri and PRO Vasudev Parvati were present.