Mysuru: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and Mysuru Queen Pramoda Devi Wodeyar were conferred with honorary Doctorate during the University of Mysore’s (UoM) 97th convocation on December 13 at Crawford Hall.
Governor Vajubhai Vala inaugurated the programme and also honoured Dalai Lama and Mysuru queen with doctorates. K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor, UoM, Registrar Prof C Rajanna and members of the university were present on the occasion.
Delivering the convocation address Dalai Lama said, “I am honoured to be conferred with doctorate degree from Mysuru University. I will be addressed as Dr Dalai Lama and for that I am grateful to Mysuru University, Karnataka and Indian government. India has given us place to live and provided all the facilities and we are grateful to India.”
Queen Pramoda Devi said, “I never expected that I would be receiving a doctorate. It is a matter of pride that a member of royal family is receiving doctorate from a University which was started by the Mysuru kings.”
“This doctorate is dedicated to all my ancestors,” she broke down saying.
Women who have outshone men at the convocation with 14,825 women candidates (61 percent) out of 24,363 candidates were conferred with different degrees. A total of 9538 (39 percent) men received the degrees. A total of 312 medals, 180 prizes were shared by 201 candidates in all five faculties. Among 201 candidates who shared 312 medals, 138 were women. Over 300 candidates received PhD degrees in various subjects. Among them, 162 (54 percent) were men and 138 (46 percent) women. On the occasion, 7388 candidates including 3889 women (53 percent) received master degrees while 16,675 candidates were conferred with Bachelor’s degrees including 10,798 women candidates which is nearly 65 percent.
