Belagavi, DHNS: The 16th annual convocation of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belagavi, will be held on its main campus, Jnana Sangama, on January 21.

Dr Prem Krishna, former chairman, CSIR - Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, will be the chief guest and will deliver the convocation address. Governor and VTU Chancellor Vajubhai Vala will preside over the convocation while Higher Education Minister and Pro-Chancellor Basavaraj Rayareddy will grace the occasion.

The university will award 57,486 BE, 226 BArch, 4,260 MBA, 2,608 MCA, 6,437 MTech, 25 MArch, 8 MSc and 66 PhD degrees. It is not awarding honorary degrees of Doctor of Science (DSc) this year as the search committee didn’t receive any names, Vice-Chancellor Karisiddappa told reporters on Tuesday.

Pranav, who graduated from the Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, will be presented with 12 gold medals for securing the first rank in BE (Civil), highest aggregate marks in all eight semesters and highest marks among students of all engineering colleges affiliated to the VTU, Karisiddappa said.

Vidwatha M V, of Bangalore Institute of Technology, will be presented with seven gold medals for securing the first rank in final-year BE (Computer Science). Mamatha R, also from the Bangalore Institute of Technology, will be awarded five gold medals for securing the first rank and highest marks in aggregate in the first attempt in the last four semesters in BE (Electronics and Communication).

Pravesh Kumar Yadav, of Channabasaveshwara Institute of Technology, Gubbi, and Swetha R, of BMS College of Engineering, Bengaluru, will also be presented with five gold medals each for securing the first rank in BE (Mechanical) and BE (Electrical and Electronics), respectively.