Over 900 BTech, MTech, MCA, Ph.D and MSc students of various batches will be conferred with degrees during the 11th convocation of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) on Saturday with Union education and skill development minister Dharmendra Pradhan joining the function as the chief guest virtually.

While Pradhan will deliver the convocation address virtually, Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda will attend the function on the NIT campus in Adityapur in neighbouring Seraikela-Kharswan district as a guest of honour.

NIT director Karunesh Kumar Shukla. who is also chairman of the Board of Governors, will attend the convocation along with other senior faculty members of the tech cradle. Shukla said the function will be held under strict Covid protocols.

The NIT campus at Adityapur Bhola Prasad

He said Bittu Kumar, a BTech student of civil engineering, and Yalam Anchili Vahini, an MTech student of embedded systems engineering, will get gold medals at the convocation while 20 other students of BTech, MTech, MSc and MCA will be feted with silver medals.

Shukla said the tech cradle would soon come up with a boys' hostel and mess to cater to 1,000 students. Currently, the technical institute can accomodate around 4,000 boys and girls. He said NIT was also planning to offer accomodation facilities to married research scholars and set up a state-of-the-art incubation and innovation centre.