While Subramaniam received his doctor of science (honoris causa) in person, Kalam was conferred the degree in absentia. Tamil Nadu governor and university chancellor, Justice M Fathima Beevi, presided over the convocation. Education minister and pro-chancellor K Anbazhagan was also present.

Delivering the convocation address, prof C N R Rao, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, said the gap between Indian science and technology and those of the rest of the industrialised world was increasing. This was mainly because the country lacked basic infrastructural facilities.

Rao said the government should support both primary and higher education to remedy the situation, as India was far from achieving the twin goals of promoting literacy and raising the level of scientific and environmentalawareness.

He said India should first choose its core areas of competitiveness, the software industry, for instance, so that it became the world leader at least in these areas. The vice-chancellor, Prof P T Manoharan, presented a report on the university's activities for 1998-99.