CJMYWhile traditional graduation ceremonies has been put on hold at universities around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, a university in India has come up with a unique way to award their students with their degrees.
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay embraced the new normal by having its 58th annual convocation ceremony using animated virtual reality.
Over 2000 students had their e-avatars walk up the dais to receive medals and degrees from the virtual avatars of dignitaries and the IIT director Subhasis Chaudhuri.
The celebration was broadcast on two local TV channels as well as YouTube and Facebook Live.
“The Institute thought it best to arrange such a VR-convocation for the graduating students so as not to put their health at risk but at the same time, not deprive them of the sense of achievement and pride of passing out of India’s premier engineering institute,” IIT Bombay said in a statement.
Duncan Haldane, the co-recipient of the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics and a professor at Princeton University, US, was invited as chief guest at the ceremony.
Students also had the opportunity to roam around a virtual campus, visit their hostels and departments virtually, and meet their friends and faculty..
“Honored to receive a Ph.D. degree at 58th Convocation @iitbombay. The Committee presented everyone with cool personalized avatar,” a student named Deepank Verma wrote online about the experience.
Known for producing Silicon Valley tech giants such as Google CEO Sundar Pichai, IIT is one of the most prestigious technical universities,
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet that the ceremony was a wonderful mix of tradition and technology.
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