National Institute of Technology, Patna, and (right) former President APJ Abdul Kalam who would be the chief guest at the convocation ceremony

This Sunday would forever be etched on the minds of the 2012-13 batch passouts of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Patna. They would get degrees from the country’s “Missile Man” that day to launch their careers.

Leading the lucky batch would be Bhavna Sweta from the electronics and communication (ECE) engineering. She would receive the institute’s prestigious gold medal. The 22-year-old would be one of the 544 passouts (413 BTech and 131 MTech), who would receive their degrees from none other than APJ Abdul Kalam at the NIT’s third convocation at SK Memorial Hall.

Elated about the convocation, Bhavna said: “It is matter of great pride and honour to receive the degree from the hands of the country’s Missile Man.” The topper in ECE, who clinched a CGPA of around 9.45, Bhavna is set to join Infosys. She added: “For engineering students, Kalam is a role model. If you get degree from him, it is a dream come true.”

NIT would also award gold medals in other engineering branches. The branch toppers are Shahana Shamim (architecture), Vivek (civil), Mayank Shukla (computer science), Rahul Raj (electrical), Pankhudi (IT) and Manish Kumar (mechanical).

Manish, the mechanical branch topper, said: “My life has changed studying at NIT. I give the credit to its administration.” Manish has been placed at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) at a package of Rs 10.12 lakh per annum. With a 9.33 CGPA under his belt, he said: “For a student from a rural background, it is a great pleasure to land a job at BPCL and the credit goes to the NIT administration.”

A rehearsal for the convocation programme would be held on Saturday. Assistant professor Sanjay Kumar said: “Former President APJ Abdul Kalam would be the chief guest at the convocation and the guest of honour would be R. Natarajan, the former director of IIT-Chennai and former chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).”

This is the second convocation of the engineering cradle in 2013. The first was organised in March, where around 858 techies from the 2010-11 and 2011-12 batches were awarded degrees.