Kanpur: The 50th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) would be held here Saturday. National University of Singapore president Shih Choon Fong will deliver the convocation address.

Director of IIT-K Sanjay G. Dhande told reporters here Friday that this was for the first time in the history of the IITs that a mechanical scientist and the president of a foreign university would address the convocation.

He said degrees would be conferred upon 993 engineering graduates. The masters degrees would be awarded to 389 students, including 27 MBA, six masters of designing course, and 356 M Tech students in various branches of engineering. Besides, 101 students would be awarded doctorate degrees, Dhande said.

He said the President's Gold Award for the best academic performance in the graduating class in all disciplines of B Tech and M Sc (5-year integrated course) degrees would be given to Anindya De of Computer Science and Engineering.

The Director's Gold Medal would be given to Ankit Misra of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma Medal would go to Madhuresh Agarwal of Computer Science and Engineering and 23 students would be given general proficiency medals.

Dhande added that the institute would Saturday sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National University of Singapore. The MoU would be to promote scientific and academic cooperation, exchange of faculty and students for research and sharing scientific equipment of common interest.