Karaikal: A committee, comprising eminent academicians has been formed by the union territory government to formulate higher education plan under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan, Lt Governor Ajay Kumar Singh said here.
    
Participating in the second annual convocation of the National Institute of Technology, Karaikal, he said that the committee had been formed to achieve excellence in higher education and to develop the UT as a 'Higher Education Hub’ in the country.
 
Delivering the convocation address, Singh urged the B.Tech graduates to consider starting their own ventures following the footsteps of successful startups like Zomato, Flipkart, Paytm, OLA, RedBus and others which have caught the attention of global investors.
     
He also urged to make use of innovative schemes started by the Union Government to encourage startups in the country.     

The Lt Governor appreciated NIT, Karaikal for bagging the Technology Education Excellence award for two consecutive years (2014 and 2015) from the Consortium of Co-Chairpersons -Industry (CCI), Gujarat.
    
Singh lauded the decision of NIT, Karaikal to adopt five villages in the UT under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Scheme to upgrade basic amenities and leverage technology for the benefit of the people.
    
He pointed out that institutions like NIT cannot afford to sit on their laurels. "Technology is changing at a very rapid pace and NIT should continuously expand its horizons and strive for excellence," he said.
    
Distributing B.Tech degrees to 109 graduates, Dr S K Pandey, Director, NIT, Karaikal said they were now offering M. Tech and PhD programmes too in four disciplines. More than 70 per cent of final year students had already secured placement offers from top companies, he said.
    
Later, the Lt Governor declared open new buildings constructed for NIT, Karaikal at Thiruvettakudy at a cost of Rs 107 crore.