"
The pandemic COVID-19 changed
the way we live and serve. It
brought in a 'new normal' leaving no
sphere of life unaffected. The
Learners and the Teaching resource
centers; the Labs and the
Researchers also had to fall in line.
Through God's Grace, life is limping
back to normal signaling resumption
of the various pursuits and so are
the Universities and the students.
We are glad that our University is all
set for the next academic year with
all the necessary precautions for the
safety and security of students
entering its portals with plan 'B' to
catch up with the teaching & research
concerns online where campus
based learning becomes vulnerable.
We have therefore great pleasure to
welcome our incoming students for
the academic year 2021-2022. At
the outset, I would like to
congratulate the admitted students
for securing place in the historic and
prestigious University- SHUATS; a
choice, many young men and
women of the country prefer to
pursue their professional and higher
education.
The COVID -19 pandemic put on fastrack
the digitization of Universities and online
learning of Students. Machine learning
though time and cost effective, it cannot
substitute the Professor and Pear learning
that can prevent the dangers of machine
mindedness and promote human
centeredness. Our students need to ration
the screen time and the screen addicted
parents must retreat and set a model for
their wards so that the longevity of their
eyes and brains are not affected.
The increasing student population on one
hand and the shortfall of the number of
universities on the other, brought in
competition for opportunities for the youth
of the nation, to realize their dreams of
professional and higher education.
Therefore, the spirit of healthy competition,
serious study and research perusal of the
respective courses on the part of students
become all the more important, from day
one of the academic calendar of the
University; be it on line or off line. It is
important that our students while
specializing in a particular field of study,
need to interface with as many disciplines as
possible to become multifaceted
personalities and thought leaders. The
multi- disciplinary environment of the
University is an ideal setting for students to
embrace many a field of knowledge. Such
a learning will hold our passing out students
in good stead while facing the knowledge
societies and smart governance that they
would become part of in the days ahead. It
is also our endeavour to ensure that the
enrolled students are not just book worms
but, athletes in the fields of sports; value
based achievers; eloquent speakers;
effective communicators and peace
promoters.
SHUATS, with a record history of 110
years of moulding the youth of the country
to develop into a new cadre of personnel
to build the nation; continues to strive for
academic excellence and research
innovation. It is the mission of the
University, to increase the production levels
of the Farms and the Enterprises through
Innovative Application of Technology so as
to feed the hungry and strengthen the
ongoing food security measures and thus
promote quality of life of people with
focus on the deprived sections of the
population.
Our Scientists, Health professionals,
Engineers, Technocrats, Administrators and
Managers should aim at applying their
learning to measures for prevention, cure
and mitigation of pandemics. As rightly
emphasized by the United Nations -
Development, Peace and Prosperity should
be sustainable goals that can hold people in
good stead beyond pandemic.
Partnerships, Collaborations and Collective
efforts should be experimented by the
students right during the period they are at
the university so that they can handle with
much ease the post study engagements be it
research, extension, entrepreneurship or
administration. Joint articles or collaborative
work at the laboratory and even the field
level experiments should be mastered by our
students. Such an effort will help students
gain increased levels of confidence. This will
help them to deal with the projects of
higher dimension for a qualitative growth for
peace and prosperity of all people. In this
direction, within the limitations of the
pandemic, we are gearing up for the new
academic year through teaching, research,
library, sports, professional networks and
other infrastructure resources, and above all,
'overseeing with a personal touch' by the
visionary Vice Chancellor, the Most Rev.
Prof. Dr. R. B Lal and his team of competent
and committed colleagues in order to
provide our students, only the best.
We wish our incoming students a rewarding
time of learning, grooming, equipping for the
challenges of life they would confront, in
building their careers and enterprises and
thus enrich themselves, their families and be
part of the much needed task of building the
nation.
It is our wish and prayer that the blessings of
Christ the Lord be upon all our students and
the University Family to be victorious of the
COVID-19 pandemic and surge ahead to
surpass the circumstances.
"