Kanpur, May 31 (IANS) The 21st century will be the Asian century thanks to its growing economies and huge talent base, National University of Singapore (NUS) president Shih Choon Fong said while delivering the 40th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) here Saturday.
He said Asia, including the Middle East, was fast becoming the new destination of choice for the coming generation.
He, however, said the new generation was facing ideological and ecological challenges and they would have to decide the best course of their life.
The NUS president said that for IIT-K students staying in Asia might appear to be the road less travelled. But this road less travelled offered better opportunities.
He advised the fresh engineering graduates that they should explore the opportunities suiting to their interest and shape the life through the choices they made.
Fong exhorted them to “catch the wave of opportunity, catch it with your mind and catch it with your heart”.
IIT-K director Sanjay G. Dhande advised the young graduates to continually strive to usher in a revolution of quality in both professional and social domains.
Degrees were conferred upon 993 engineering graduates. The president’s gold medal was given to Anindya De of computer science and engineering. The director’s gold medal went to Ankit Misra of electrical engineering.