Gangtok: President Pratibha Patil spoke at the first convocation of the Sikkim University on Friday and spoke about how all academic subjects today have become intertwined with each other and studies have become multi-disciplinary.

Ms. Patil spoke at length about how the modern curriculum involved global discourses such as climate change, food security, diseases, and economic development, etc and that she was glad that students in the university were allowed to choose their subjects from various disciplines.

She stated that the Indian youth that graduated from universities must learn to work towards the economic betterment of our country, adding that our nation had already become a major emerging economy.

Showing concern for the decreasing numbers of rare plants in Sikkim, Ms. Patil said that as the year 2010 had already been designated the "International Year of Biodiversity", now would be a good opportunity to create a genetic garden within the university comprising of rare and endangered species of plants. "This would help in spreading awareness about the large biological diversity that is found in Sikkim," she said

Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University, Mahendra P. Lama, presented the university's progress report and spoke about the initiative taken up by the university to eradicate all forms of traditional systems of learning.

He also said that parents of students in Sikkim preferred sending their children to Indian metropolitans such as Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore for higher education and the university was working towards changing that attitude.

Other guests that were present on the occasion included West Bengal Governor and interim Governor of Sikkim M.K. Narayanan and Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling.