Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Patna celebrated its third convocation on Thursday, for the first time at its own campus in Bihta, 40km southwest of Patna.

On the occasion, 229 BTech, 77 MTech and 18 PhD students were conferred degrees. The successful students, now working in different companies or pursuing higher studies at different institutions, took time off their busy schedules to attend the convocation. Sachin Basil John, a student of computer science and engineering for 2010-14 session received the President of India gold medal while Chaitanya Kansal of the same branch and batch received the director’s gold medal for best all-rounder student.

Prabhakaran S from the computer science and engineering department received the President of India gold medal for being academically best student in the 2011-15 session, while his friend from the electrical engineering branch, Venkatesh Chaturvedi, received the director’s gold medal. An elated Venkatesh, now pursing MTech from IIT Delhi, said: “Studying at IIT-Patna was a different feeling as faculty members and staff were very helpful and cooperative.” After completing his studies, Venkatesh received offers from Tata Motors and Deloitte. He worked at Deloitte for a month but left it to join the MTech course at IIT-Delhi while keeping an eye on the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Venkatesh said: “After MTech, my next goal is to clear civil services examination as I want to help the lower strata of society.”

Even Chaitanya Kansal, the best all-rounder student of 2010-14 batch, left a job at Microsoft in Hyderabad few months ago to join IIM-Bangalore. After completing his management, he wants to work on government projects. He told The Telegraph: “The basic idea behind joining IIM-Bangalore is to learn the best practices in private sector that can be introduced in government projects, making it more cost effective and profitable.”

Like Venkatesh and Chaitanya, there are many others who, after completing BTech and MTech, want to become entrepreneurs or join government projects to create the India of their dreams.

Pratyush Kumar, Boeing India president who has worked with different multinational companies, holds similar views. Delivering the convocation address, Pratyush said: “A sharp focus by engineering institutions on entrepreneurship is the need of the hour for continued growth of our economy. We should not just aspire to seek a job, but also become job creators.”

The convocation was held in front of the administrative block where the administration had erected a huge pandal. It started with the convocation parade led by institute registrar Subhash Pandey and comprising deans of various faculty, chief guest Pratyush Kumar, guest of honour Gautam Barua (IIT-Guwahati professor), chairman of board of governors Ajai Chowdhry and IIT-Patna director Pushpak Bhattacharyya.

The degree recipients included students from 2010-14 and 2011-15 sessions, as no convocation was held last year.

Twelve BTech and 12 MTech students each from both sessions received gold and silver medals.