TERI School Holds its 14th Convocation Ceremony. TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI SAS), New Delhi, a deemed to be University, held its 14th Convocation on 8th December 2021 at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre (IHC), Lodhi Road, New Delhi.Principal Scientific Adviser, Prof. K VijayRaghavan along with TERI SAS Chancellor, Dr Shailesh Nayak and VC, Prof. Prateek Sharma at the 14th Convocation Ceremony Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India was the Chief Guest for this august occasion.

Prof. VijayRaghavan is also the Chairperson of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). Prior to this, Prof. VijayRaghavan was the Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India from January 28th, 2013 to February 2nd, 2018. During the Convocation ceremony, 23 scholars received their doctoral degrees and a total of 253 graduands received their master’s in niche and diverse programmes offered by the institute. As an institution of higher learning and cutting-edge research, TERI School of Advanced Studies has always been ahead of its time in terms of finding sustainable solutions to world challenges.

Over the years, the institute tailor-made an informed cadre of sustainability professionals who are well-equipped to tackle, beyond cultural boundaries and sectoral divisions, the interwoven challenges of environmental impacts and ecosystem vulnerability and have been solution providers to both mitigation and adaptation to climate change that led to a more sustainable development pathway especially in a post-COVID-19 era.Prof. K VijayRaghavan Padma Shri Prof. K VijayaRaghavan in his address drew attention to some of the challenges of the post-COVID world and hoped the students passing out would be a part of the mainstream agenda to mitigate climate change effects, especially as India aims to make environmental sustainability central to its developmental policy.

While briefly outlining the way the planet is progressing post the pandemic, coupled with unbridled big city growth and increased devastating climate events, Prof VijayRaghavan stressed that the frugal high quality innovation is beneficial now but takes a toll on the future generations, and students need to use technology and knowledge that empowers future generations to keep sustainability alive. Over the past few years, the subject of climate change has gone beyond the regular and conventional challenges of air pollution, water, waste & energy management, biodiversity conservation, mobility and environmental health and in the post-COVID-19 era the subject is being seen from a diverse prism that requires an interdisciplinary approach to find sustainable solutions to the environmental challenges that India and the world have to collectively handle.

As the change agents, TERI SAS students are not only trained to take on these challenges, but are also socially awakened to make sure that the changes they work have a last mile impact. The chancellor, TERI SAS, Dr. Shailesh Nayak in his address reminded the outgoing students of their training, “I am optimistic that the knowledge gained in TERI SAS will help our passing out students to address issues beyond poverty and hunger, education and inequality, climate change and energy, bringing about inclusive sustainable development.” Mahatma Gandhi had said, “Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. I believe our students will always keep these words by Mahatma in mind when they reach a position where they can make decisions about people.” Prof. Prateek Sharma.

Vice-Chancellor, TERI SAS spoke about the legacy TERI SAS carries as an institute and how it’s the collective responsibility of all including the outgoing students to add new feathers to the institute’s cap. “More than two decades ago when the concept of sustainable development figured passingly in very limited discussion fora, a few people at TERI had the foresight to anticipate the outcomes of development path under a ‘business as usual’ scenario. Hence TERI School of Advanced studies was born in 1998 that has today matured into a leading institution synonymous with its motto “Knowledge for Sustainable Development”. Research-led education at TERI School of Advanced studies has always been a win-win model to create knowledge and capacity in various areas of sustainable development, especially at a time when the world is facing serious challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme climate events.

The outgoing students will have a special responsibility in pushing the sustainability agenda, broad enough for every sector of the economy having a multiplier effect for the coming generations,” said Prof. Sharma. TERI SAS (earlier TERI University) is one of the eminent institutes in the country in the field of Sustainability Education. It was conceived to disseminate the knowledge base created by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). It offers 12 masters programmes and an interdisciplinary PhD programme in the six thematic areas of Bioresources and Biotechnology, Business Sustainability, Energy and Environment, Natural Resources Management, Policy Studies and Water Science and Governance at its campus in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi and is also coming up with a campus at Hyderabad, Telangana.

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