Addressing the 4th convocation of the university, the Governor said that engineering graduates should shun their “business as usual” attitude.
“This university can provide leaders to fight climate change and provide acceptable solutions without waiting for technology transfers.” Gandhi said.
Stressing on the impact of global warming, he said by 2030 Kolkata will witness 5 degree Celsius increase in the temperature.
“Currently, we have a very efficient Mayor. But by 2030, we will need an even more efficient Mayor and a good network of drains, sewers and rain outflow conduits for Kolkata,” the Governor said.
Gandhi asked the students to seek the guidance of their faculty to become “ecologically intelligent”.
Chief guest P S Goel, president of Indian National Academy of Engineering, said that even with best institutions like Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Technology the country is producing only about 4 lakh engineers per year, which is perhaps one of the lowest in the world.
Goel added that the WBUT can set up a multidisciplinary department of Delta Technology Centre to focus on the ecological problems of the Sunderbans.
In his address, Vice-Chancellor Sabyasanchi Sengupta said the university should provide academic leadership to its affiliated institutions. At present, the university only offers affiliation to over 100 colleges in the state and runs a handful of post-graduate programmes at its campus. “About 18,000 technological graduates and more than 6,000 students from the non-AICTE approved courses passed from the university in 2007-08,” the Vice-Chancellor said.