Bhubaneswar: The Utkal University campus wore a festive look on Monday as hundreds of parents accompanied their wards to join the culmination sessions of the university’s platinum jubilee celebrations.
The departments were spruced up for the parents meet, the forecourts were tastefully decorated for photo sessions, and a mega event was organised at the university sports ground.
“This is my first visit to the campus. I had heard about the university since my childhood days, but I could visit today, for the first time, because of my daughter,” said Tarachand Majhi. He came all the way from Kotpad in Koraput district at daughter Pooja Majhi’s insistence, a student of the Anthropology Department.
“I have pinned much hope on my daughter’s future and hope she graduates from the university with good marks and fulfils her aspirations,” said Cuttack resident Sailendra Mohan Patnaik. Both father and daughter Chabi were visibly moved like many others, including retired teachers, as the first year PG students laid out an elaborate show of warmth and bonhomie for the day.
Addressing the mega parents meet, former vice-chancellor and vice-chairman of the Higher Education Council Ashok Das said the institute should aim at becoming a “university of substance” that encourages a healthy learning process, produces merit, inculcates values and respects its teachers. He said the university should be judged by its merit, not by rankings.
He called upon the parents to be an active stakeholder in the university’s development. He said that the only thing that can make a teacher proud is the performance of the student.
Picking up the thread, noted scholar Chandrabhanu Satpathy, the chief guest of the occasion, said a good administration, finance, discipline, research and good students can only make a university great.
Principal advisor to the Governor Madhusudan Padhi said the university must benchmark itself with the best in the world. The university should analyse its contribution to the state, the research output and whether it can have a plan of action to improve its position vis a vis other institutes globally.