For the first time since its establishment in 1960, Ranchi University (RU) will be inviting only toppers to its convocation ceremony to be held in the last week of February, keeping the Covid-19 pandemic in mind, officials said on Thursday.

While top university officials have decided to call for a meeting to discuss the entry restrictions at the venue on the convocation day, sources said that it was almost confirmed that only the 56 gold medalists and important personalities from the university and government will be invited to the ceremony.

Also, unlike past years, the convocation ceremony is likely to be held in a closed auditorium this year instead of the convocation ground at the RU campus in Morabadi, officials said. This will be the 34th convocation of RU whhc has never organised a convocation for a limited number of students in the past.

“We will hold a meeting soon to discuss the different limitations to be imposed on the upcoming convocation ceremony. As of now, I will not officially say that only toppers will be invited to the ceremony,” said pro vice chancellor Kamini Kumar. She, however, admitted that the ceremony will be held in the presence of limited guests and all students graduating from the varsity will not be able to attend the function.

Every year, RU holds a convocation ceremony for students of undergraduate, post graduate, PhD and vocational courses on the same day at the same venue. However, this year, the convocation ceremony will be held only for post graduate and undergraduate students, sources working in the administrative building of RU near Shaheed Chowk in Ranchi said.

Last year, President Ramnath Kovind was the chief guest for the convocation ceremony. Kovind had conferred certificates and gold medals to all the 56 toppers – 45 girls and 11 boys. As per records with RU, this year, 37 of the toppers are girls while remaining 19 are boys.

At present, the University has 23 post graduate departments, 15 constituent colleges, and 49 affiliated colleges, imparting education in medicine, psychiatry, law, engineering, business management, education, and general courses. Besides these institutions, there are UGC sponsored Academic Staff College.