In view of the COVID-19 situation, the 18th annual convocation of Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam (SPMVV) was held both online and offline in Tirupati on Wednesday.
Governor and Chancellor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan presided over the session virtually from Raj Bhavan. Participating as a special guest of honour, Minister for Education Adimulapu Suresh hailed women’s empowerment as the first step to social development.
The other proceedings, including presentation of degrees and awarding of doctorates, were conducted at the campus. As many as 3,054 students from different streams received degrees at the convocation. The varsity also presented 150 gold medals and 31 book prizes in life sciences, social sciences and engineering & technology.
“As many as 296 Ph.D and 43 M.Phil candidates have received their research degrees and 14 M.Phil and 498 Ph.D candidates are currently on the rolls,” said Jamuna Duvvuru, while reading the Vice-Chancellor’s annual report. She said research projects with a total outlay of ₹10.55 crore had been received from funding agencies like UGC, DST, DBT and ICSSR.
Honorary doctorate was awarded virtually to noted feminist Telugu writer Volga, based in Hyderabad. As the convocation orator, Ms. Volga, originally known as P. Lalita Kumari, spoke on the need to end all forms of discrimination against women. “Education, job opportunities and rights are not gifts given to women by anyone,” she said.
