"It can help attract the best faculty from India and abroad and provide a benchmark for continuous quality enhancement," the President said.

Citing a report, Mukherjee said that IITs rank at 61st position globally, when rated as a system.

"Similarly, the IITs as a unit together, are among the world's top entrepreneurial under-graduate universities at no 4, after Stanford, UC Berkeley and MIT.

"I am sharing this information to highlight the entrepreneurial capacity of our institutions and their potential to transform India through innovation and indigenization," he said.

The NITs, as institutes of national importance, have to take a lead in creating the capacity for innovation and entrepreneurship and align it with the national development goals, he said.

Education in general, and technical education in particular, has always been seen as an instrument of transformation for economic, social and political development of the country, the President said, emphasising on technical education.

"We have always emphasized the role of science and technology in solving the problems of society," he said.

Over 1,100 students were awarded degrees at the convocation.

Of these, 48 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), six Master of Technology by research, 312 Master of Technology, 45 Master of Science, 655 Bachelor of Technology in various engineering disciplines and 74 Bachelor of Architecture degrees were awarded.

40 medals and 56 prizes for meritorious achievements were also given during the ceremony.

Mukherjee awarded Sir Visvesvaraya gold medal to Prem Auti, an undergraduate student for academic achievement.

The institute has been named after Sir M Visvesvaraya, an eminent engineer, planner and statesman of the country.

The convocation ceremony coincided with the 155th birth anniversary of Visvesvaraya today, which is also celebrated as Engineers' Day in India.

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, among others, were present at the function.
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