President Pranab Mukherjee Attends the 1st Convocation of Nalanda University

Nalanda University organized its first convocation on Saturday, August 27. Among the guests present at the convocation ceremony was the President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. The foundation stone for the university’s campus at Nalanda, Rajgir and Bihar was also laid by the president.

The president addressed the gathering at the convocation and expressed his gratitude to be attending the event. Stating the objective of the university, he said that university aims to provide students from all over the world an intellectual, historical, philosophical and spiritual education as was the tradition at the ancient Nalanda Mahavira University.

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Talking about the improved performance of Indian institutes in the QS world university rankings 2015, he said that he wishes that Nalanda University achieves the same glory and gets listed among the top institutions in the world such as India’s IISc, Bangalore, IIT Bombay and much more.

He also emphasized on the fact that the ancient Nalanda University attracted a lot of foreign students and was an international institution with a lot of students coming to study from inter-Asian connections.

He also expressed his delight in knowing that among the 125 students that are currently enrolled in the university, 25 are foreign students who hail from countries like Japan, China, Vietnam, Bhutan, Korea, Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Nigeria.

The President stressed on the fact that a good institution requires good faculty and administrators. On successfully having organized the first convocation, the President congratulated all those who had achieved this milestone.

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Sharing his wisdom on education, he told the students that graduation is one of the many steps in the challenging journey that lies beyond. Mukherjee said, “The education you have received at Nalanda will always stand you in good stead.”

He concluded his speech with the hope that the new Nalanda will bridge the gap between India and East Asia that once existed in in the old times.