Balwant Sheth School of Architecture and Centre of Interior Environment and Design, Mumbai hosts Digital Convocation Ceremony

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  • 117 students were conferred degrees in the online ceremony
  • Degrees awarded for Full Time Master of Architecture, Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts Hons. (Interior Environment and Design)
Mumbai, 21 August, 2021: SVKM’s NMIMS Balwant Sheth School of Architecture (BSSA) and Centre of Interior Environment and Design (CIED), held its annual convocation ceremony on Saturday, 21 August 2021. 19 candidates graduated with their master degree, and the cohort of 77 students pursuing Full Time Bachelor of Architecture at Balwant Sheth School of Architecture and 21 students pursuing Full Time Bachelor of Arts Hons. (IED) at Centre of Interior Environment and Design received their degrees in the virtual ceremony.
The convocation was presided by Honourable Chief Guest, Architect Habeeb Khan, President Council of Architecture, India, Dr. Jayant P. Gandhi, Nominee of the Honourable Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS University, Dr. Ramesh Bhat, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS University, Dr. Sharad Mhaiskar, Pro-Vice Chancellor, SVKM’s NMIMS University,                                                                                                                                       Dr. Meena Chintamaneni, Registrar, Prof. Aparna Surve, Dean Balwant Sheth School of Architecture and faculty members of BSSA and CIED . The ceremony was compered by Prof. Arti Daga & Prof. Prakriti Mehta, Faculty, BSSA.
During the welcome address, Dr. Ramesh Bhat, Vice Chancellor, NMIMS Deemed-to-be University, congratulated the graduating students and shared words of encouragement and wisdom, “Today you graduate from this university as an enriched person with outstanding achievements. You graduate someone having gone through a rigorous curriculum and after testing yourself. Over the years of your learning journey, you engrossed to explore the process of Design, understand the changing ethos of Architecture Design and practice, imbibed contemporary design and advanced technology, learning from the past envision the future and redefine and generate contemporary architecture responses in present that constantly evolves.
Learning through experiments, what we call fast fail has become norm in today’s learning ecosystem. Your power of critical thinking and out of box innovative approaches help you to think on two diverse planes. This is a skill and ability to juggle between these two opposite thinking processes that give you an edge in delivering socially relevant architectural innovations. Your inclusive approach and your commitment which characterise the NMIMS university.”
He concluded with a quote and words of inspiration “To quote John Lautner from Chicago to help you to decide on your mission in future. The infinite variety of these spaces can be as varied as life itself. The purpose of Architecture is to improve human life. Create timeless, accessible, safe, joyous spaces for all activities in life. The endeavours must be as sensible as nature in deriving from a central idea and flowering into a beautiful entity. The overriding essence is found in the intangibles, life–heart–soul–spirit–freedom–enduring within the structure.”
 Acknowledging the various achievements of the students and faculty of BSSA and CIED, Prof. Aparna Surve, Dean, BSSA, said, “BSSA has always reinforced the philosophy to stay current and to constantly evolve with the changing times. The Pandemic demanded us to stay mindful, stay current, to think Out-of-the-box and to think critically to resolve design problems. The mentoring at the school, enabled our students to innovate in delivering socially relevant design innovations.
In its journey so far, the school has placed ‘Design’ at the centre for Knowledge Creation. However, in next few years the School proposes to investigate the role of Research in the Design.
Having achieved its foundational goals, the School now looks ahead and states that, it is through the current research & innovation questions posed by the faculty & students, that the arena of knowledge creation would expand for the school.  As the school is growing in sheer numbers, it articulates Four knowledge streams, that would broadly capture the Focus/interest areas of various faculty & students-Architectural Design, Urban Studies, Environmental & Sustainability and other Multidisciplinary Streams.”
 Delivering the convocation address, Honourable Chief Guest Architect Habeeb Khan, President, Council of Architecture, shared words of encouragement in these unprecedented times, he said,
“Few years ago, you had aspirations, anxiety and maybe fear in your eyes when you would have entered the portals of this university. I am sure today the same mixed emotions are crossing in your minds. You have grown as individuals and slowly you will emerge as practitioners of your respective professions. The feeling of achieving something and completion of a phase in your life is over whelming. I am sure the feeling of your teachers of having shaped a young and groom a young mind is equally overwhelming. The feeling is awesome and mutual for both you and your teachers. Very soon you will make a transition from the protected cocoons of your institution into the vagaries of professional field. I cannot say if there will be success or there will be failure, what I can say for sure there is going to be struggle. A good institution like yours teaches and trains you indirectly to face this struggle and come out winners. I hope and wish the best for all of you. Within the confined cocoons of an institution, you have had the unique opportunity to develop and test your values and attitudes to extend your capacity to think critically and creatively and to develop specialist skills all of which would give you the ability to face the world.
One thought that I would like to leave with you is that as a responsible graduate there comes an expectation that you will provide meaningful leadership to our country in whatever role in whatever field you choose to be. Creative education teaches you to be imaginative and it is this imagination that becomes an intrinsic part of your soul. This ability to imagine should be used by you in the interest of our country and for the betterment of our profession. This imaginative power should enrich our lives and your lives and, in the process, fellow human beings. The future of this country and yours will not be delivered by professionals who work in isolation but rather these challenges would be met by people who are able to lead across disciplines professional to professional.”
He concluded “There are two types of people, people who stand in the side-lines as observers, commentators and critiques and those who actually step into the arena and through hard work, drive and determination make a difference. This required great effort commitment and sometimes even courage. As future alumni of this university one expects you to do all this and much more. I wish you better successful meaningful and happy lives and congratulate all of you from the bottom of my heart and bring warm greetings and best wishes from the Councill of Architecture. Welcome to the work of Architecture.”
The top-ranking students from each program were part of Dean list and gold, silver medals and certificates were awarded to all the meritorious students. The ceremony concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. Sharad Mhaiskar, Pro Vice Chancellor NMIMS University.
About SVKM’s NMIMS Balwant Sheth School of Architecture :
The Balwant Sheth School of Architecture (BSSA) is a fully developed constituent school of NMIMS, with a solid academic and resource base, modern facilities, and infrastructure. As a leading school in architecture, it is committed to concern for the environment, sustainability for years to come, and a strong focus on user-centricity to create valuable spaces.
Website: https://architecture.nmims.edu/
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About SVKM’s NMIMS:
Established in 1981, NMIMS is today recognized as a globally reputed university with strong industry linkages. It offers multiple disciplines across 8 campuses that consist of 17 specialized schools, more than 17000 students, and about 750 full-time faculty members, 10 faculty members with Fulbright Scholarship and Humboldt International Scholarship for post-doctoral researchers. It is known for its consistent academic quality and research-focused approach towards holistic education. SVKM’s NMIMS has been granted Category-I Deemed University status by Graded Autonomy Regulation 2018 by MHRD/UGC and NMIMS Mumbai Campus is NAAC accredited with a CGPA of 3.59.)
Website: https://nmims.edu/under-graduate
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WATCH CONVOCATION VIDEO : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO_skCi0WrI 

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