The youth have an important role in building not only their own future, but also shaping their family, the country and humanity, said T. Ramasami, former secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India at the 14th annual convocation of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai on Sunday.

“Since 2000, Tamil Nadu has emerged as a leader in research and development (R&D), as measured by the number of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals. About 61 per cent of the research papers published in India are from Tamil Nadu, of which 35 per cent are contributed by private universities,” he said.

Addressing the gathering, Ganesanathan Geathiswaran, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka said that India and Sri Lanka were separated by a narrow stretch of water, but connected by thousands of years of history, culture, religion, language, trade, and human relationships.

Speaking at the convocation, VIT founder and Chancellor G. Viswanathan said, “Only around 13 per cent of India’s population had attained graduate-level education and emphasised that graduating students represented the future of the nation. While India was witnessing rapid economic growth, the expansion of higher education had not kept pace with that of developed nations.”

VIT vice-presidents Sankar Viswanathan and G.V. Selvam, vice-chancellor V.S. Kanchana Bhaaskaran, pro-vice chancellor T. Thyagarajan, Director, K. Sathiyanarayanan, Registrar, Jayabarathi .T, and additional registrar P.K. Manoharan, VIT Chennai also took part in the convocation.

As many as 4,518 students in undergraduate, post graduate and Ph.D received their degrees.