28th Annual Convocation of TAPMI, Manipal
T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal hosted its 28th Annual Convocation at KMC Greens on the 2nd of April, 2014. This event was held in connection with the graduation of the PGDM and PGDM-HC batch of 2012-14 who received their PG Diplomas in the presence of Hon. Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam (Former President of India) who was the Chief Guest at the event.
The ceremony was in the presence of Dr Ramdas M Pai, Chairman, Members of TAPMI Governing Council, Dr. R C Natarajan Director-TAPMI, Heads of sister institutes under Manipal University, Faculty and Staff members, Students and their parents. In all, the ceremony was attended by around 1500 people. The event started with the ceremonial procession, followed by the award of PG Diplomas. This year, 308 students graduated from TAPMI. 302 were presented the diploma at the convocation while 6 in absentia.
Eleven special awards for academic excellence were presented which included the TAPMI Titan of the Year Award, TAPMI Achiever of the Year Award, Dr. Ranjan Acharya Award, Prof. M. V. Kini Award etc. Following the award distribution, was a professional oath taken by the graduating students to commit towards the ethical practices and responsibility as managers in their future career.
Dr Natarajan spoke on the special achievements of the TAPMI faculty and students as also introduced the Chief Guest following which the Convocation Address was delivered by Dr. Abdul Kalam.
Dr. Kalam, spoke about the importance of being “Good Leaders” besides being professional managers. He emphasized on the point that amongst the various resources in the country, Ignited Minds are the most powerful. He said that there is a global system emerging in India and many world leaders have started valueing India as a leader of South Asian nations.
He referred to the emergence of a new world where education is not marked by boundaries. He envisioned a developed India by 2020 which will have concrete integrated action plans for seamless development. He laid emphasis on the importance of achieving energy independence over energy security by increasing the usage of natural resources. He appreciated the various activities that are organized by the student body of TAPMI and specifically paid accolades to the efforts of the Social Endeavor Group at educating under-privileged children through their flagship event JoyFest.
He concluded the address by congratulating the graduating batch and taking a promise from them that they would work for betterment of the country through the field of management in an ethical and responsible manner. The ceremony came to an end with Prof. Vinod Madhavan proposing vote of thanks to the Chief Guest and all those present at the Convocation.