With happy faces all over the campus the SRM University, Kattankulathur was a place of delight during the special convocation on November 11, 2011. Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Honourable Minister of Health and Family Welfare, was the Chief Guest of the grand ceremony. Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad held different ministerial positions and he is well known for his remarkable political career.
Dr. M. Ponnavaiko, the Vice Chancellor of SRM University welcomed the parents and the graduating students. Congratulating the first batch of MBBS students graduating from the Varsity, the Vice Chancellor continued to present the annual report. He highlighted the infrastructure of the different campuses of the University. 3120 post graduate students graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Faculty of Science and Humanities and 797 students graduated from the dental college, medical and paramedical courses.
Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad congratulated the University for functioning with social commitment, recognizing the need of the nation to equip the students to meet the global challenges and to succeed in a global competitive environment.
The Union Minister maintained that he has instructed the Medical Council of India to increase the faculty student ratio from 1:1 to 1:2 to meet the shortage of medical professionals in the country.
He added that he is happy that the private institutions like SRM University support the government in sharing the burden to fund the higher education. Advising the graduates during the grand occasion, he mentioned that the nation needs active participation of young people in fighting the maladies which takes a huge toll on the rural population of the country.
He appreciated the successive governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the strides made in the health sector and he said that the health indicators like MMR, IMR and TFR of the above states are comparable with any developed country.
