Guest speaker : Prof. Krishna Kumar
Respected President, Vice President, Distinguished faculty and Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today is a memorable day for the foreign researchers in the annals of Tokyo Institute of Technology. It is a thanks giving occasion to TIT which welcomed us. We are a privileged few to have the opportunity to come to Japan and participate in the research activities of Tokyo Institute of Technology. This would not have been possible without the generous support of Japanese Government in general and Tokyo Institute of Technology in particular. Personally I am happy to be a part of the Centre of Excellence Program at TIT.
When the teachers support team asked me to give a short speech on this occasion, I graciously conceded to their request, because, I am a teacher first then only a researcher. When I look back at the past during the time when I graduated, the education scenario was entirely different from the present. At that time the prime motive of education is knowledge seeking and equip one self with good knowledge of language both in communication as well as written and those who possessed were called well read.
In the past two decades there is revolution and sea of change in the attitude of academicians and the government on the establishment of centers of higher learning and technology. Now these centers of higher learning are established on the basis of inextricably on three major issues or dimension.
The first dimension is the societal needs and to address the problem faced by man kind all over the world. Societal demands on these institutes becoming complex and diversified and solutions are required at the earliest. Some of the problems faced to-day are the Energy crisis, mitigation of suffering from natural calamity like earth quake and Tsunami and save the future generation from the killer disease AIDS. To the top of all is the threat from Terrorists.
Since these are the problems faced by the society at large, solutions cannot be found by any country in isolation and hence international participation is the need of the hour.
The second dimension to the establishment of centers of higher learning is catering to the requirement of the Industry. Industry dictates their requirement of man power in the competitive environment and courses are structured to meet the needs of the industry. The third dimension is the demand from student community on their employability. The students are eager whether after graduation they stand a good chance in the employment scenario.
Very few institutes in the world cater to the needs of these three dimensions and Tokyo Institute of Technology is the foremost among them. TIT has been successful in the creation of highly talented human resource endowed with international leadership. This is primarily due to its internationally reputed faculty, its infrastructure on research resource and above all public relations about research activities. Some of the activities of TIT for societal needs are
- Buildings to withstand natural disaster. Development of long life sustainable building structure
- Energy demands in local area using the concept of CANDLE.
- Extraction of essential characters of disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, typhoons. Development of Geographic Information system (GIS).
Well, TIT has provides us food to our mind and satisfied our hunger for knowledge. But for the mind and body to work in tandem, we require warmth, affection and above all concern for the fellow human being. I am deeply touched and over whelmed by the politeness and kindness of Japanese in each and every matter. This makes us feel socially comfortable and in fact I often forget that I am in Japan. I assure you Sir, when we reach our country we will not only be ambassadors of knowledge, but also carry forward Japanese culture and politeness.
Let the land of rising sun continue to nourish high technology and we the foreign researchers will also shoulder your responsibility to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity to mankind.
Thank you.
Visiting Professor, Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors
Senior Scientific Officer, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
Prof. Krishna Kumar
Respected President, Vice President, Distinguished faculty and Ladies and Gentlemen.
Today is a memorable day for the foreign researchers in the annals of Tokyo Institute of Technology. It is a thanks giving occasion to TIT which welcomed us. We are a privileged few to have the opportunity to come to Japan and participate in the research activities of Tokyo Institute of Technology.