Coronavirus changed the way of education in the country, form virtual classes to open book exams, students have been utilising the internet like before. As every problem has a solution and Indians are the best to find an innovative Jugaad for everything, IIT Bombay also had an interesting idea to award degrees to the passing out students.


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For the first time in Indian history, a "virtual reality mode" convocation was conducted at IIT Bombay. The 58th convocation at IIT Bombay was conducted on Sunday. While the students couldn't congregate for the convocation, where Nobel prize winner Professor Duncan Haldane was invited as the chief guest, they were seen along with the guests in their digital avatars on a virtual stage.


"Keeping in view the safety measures during the ongoing pandemic, the institute held its convocation in virtual reality mode for its graduating students," the IIT- Bombay said in a statement.

IIT-Bombay added that it did not wish to deprive the students of the sense of achievement and pride of passing out of the premier engineering institute.

"A personalised avatar of each graduate received the degree certificate from the personalised avatar of director professor Subhasis Chaudhari. The medallists also received their medals from the personalised avatar of the chief guest," the institute said.

This is for the first time in the institute's 62-year history that it gave away medals, awards and degrees to the virtual avatars of the students on the day of convocation.

"There is a lesson for everyone involved in research," Professor D Haldane, a British-born physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2016, said during the nearly two-hour-long event, which was streamed live.

"India is poised to stake its claim as one of the world's great innovation hubs," said Guest of Honour Stephen A Schwarzman, described as a "world-renowned investor and philanthropist" in an official statement. The guests addressed the students virtually.

A video shows the digital avatar of a student being awarded "President of India's Medal for 2020".

While the IIT Bombay students did not miss their one in a lifetime celebrations, social media hailed IIT Bombay for making such efforts for the students.








Barring just the ceremony, IIT Bombay also went a step ahead to virtually connect them with friends and organised viewing of hostel videos, a night before the convocation.

Post convocation too, IIT-Bombay let people access the campus’ map, walk through their departments, and loiter in the corridors.

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