Cuttack, Aug. 6: Ravenshaw University is setting up a steering committee to facilitate hosting of its seventh annual convocation on August 23.

Official sources said chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and former ISRO chairman Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan will be the chief guest for the convocation.The university will confer gold medals on the meritorious students of 2013 and 2014 batches at the convocation.

The postgraduate results of the 2014 batch have been published. Students passing the examination and securing top positions will be awarded gold medals. Nearly 120 students, including 59 toppers in the 2013 batch, will also be conferred with gold medals by the chief guest. “As the convocation is being held nearly two months late, we have decided to award the students of two years simultaneously to clear the backlog,” said vice-chancellor B.C. Tripathy.

“We have sent a list of eight eminent personalities for awarding honoris causa to the office of the chancellor for approval. Once the list is approved by the chancellor’s office, we will make it public,” said registrar Padan Jena.

Drawing lessons from past experience, Ravenshaw authorities have decided to seek assistance of event management companies in making necessary arrangements for the event.

A varsity official said tenders had been called, while decision to rope in private event management group had not gone well with the faculty members, who earlier used to make arrangements during the convocation.The vice-chancellor said the varsity had decided to float tenders only for making arrangements, including installation of air-conditioners and other smaller items.