St Xavier’s University’s third convocation, scheduled for February 12, is set to be held with full attendance.
The event will be held on the football ground on the New Town campus so that physical distancing is followed, as a precaution against Covid.
This year’s convocation was held in an open space on the campus with limited attendance. Among the 462 degree recipients (undergraduate and postgraduate), the university had invited only the rank-holders.
Next year, all degree recipients and the students who are in the final year will be invited to the event.
“Next year we will hold the event offline with full attendance, subject to prevalence of normalcy. All the graduating students and those in the final year at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels will be invited as well. The attendance could be close to 1,500 and the football ground will be enough for maintaining physical distancing norms,” Father Felix Raj, vice-chancellor, St Xavier’s University, told The Telegraph on Sunday.
The degree recipients, he said, will have to follow safety protocols like wearing masks throughout their stay on the campus. Their body temperature will be scanned by thermal guns.
The proceedings at this year’s convocation were streamed live on Facebook and YouTube as all degree recipients were not invited.
“Next year, too, the event will be streamed live so that the parents can watch the proceedings over digital platforms. Under normal circumstances, we invite parents, too. But we want to keep a cap on the attendance. Or else it will be difficult to maintain physical distancing,” said an official of the university.
Asked what prompted them to decide to go ahead with full attendance, Father Felix Raj said: “Students insist on visiting the campus on the day they graduate…. According to them, if it is virtual, it does not feel like convocation.”