" 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. "