The coveted Chancellor’s gold medal went to Richa Dave for being the Best Student in all the faculties. Gunjan Agarwal won highest number of medals. She bagged a total of nine medals, including the Best Student in M.Sc (II) examination in Physics 2007 and Best M.Sc (II) student in Physics.

Delivering the convocation address, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Dr K Kasturirangan said the most challenging problem before higher education in India was to create an educational system that can balance the twin demands of excellence and equity or mass access.

“The Indian government, particularly the universities in the country, must rise to the occasion. Every university must strive to redefine its goals and dedicate itself to teaching and research in a spirit of free and critical inquiry, tolerance of diversity and a commitment to resolution of difference of opinion through dialogue and debate,” said Kasturirangan, who is at present Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore.

Acknowledging the improvement in LU’s academic environment, Kasturirangan said LU has responded positively to the changing global scenario of higher education. “It is indeed a matter of pride that department of business administration has been rated by Business India among the top 10 universities of the country. The university also has the distinction of bringing out 15 research journals from different LU departments,” added Kasturirangan.

Referring to the higher education system in US, Kasturirangan pointed out, “In one of the most oft-cited rankings of universities conducted by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai University, 17 of the top 20 universities in the list are American.”

In the wake of globalisation, Indian universities should also strive to set up new centres of excellence to match pace with the global changes. Governor T V Rajeswar, who was also present during the ceremony, expressed concern over the mushrooming of engineering colleges in the country.

“We have witnessed an explosion of engineering colleges throughout the country. India turns out about 4,00,000 engineers every year, but how many of them are really competent,” lamented the Governor.