Bushra Mateen, a civil engineering student of SLN College of Engineering, Raichur, received 16 gold medals at the 21st annual convocation ceremony of Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in Belagavi on March 10. She broke the record of 13 gold medals set by Ahad Tarade (BE Civil) of Karnataka Law Society’s Gogte Institute of Technology (GIT), Belagavi in 2014.
Bushra topped among all institutes of the VTU with an aggregate cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of 9.73. She is also the first-rank holder in the civil engineering branch as well as in the women’s category. She won the Shri SG Balekundri gold medal, JNU University gold medal, VTU gold medal, RN Shetty gold medal among others. She won two cash prizes too.
The second highest with seven gold medals is won by three students – Swati Dayananda of BNM institute of technology in Bengaluru, Vivek Bhadrakali of KLE M S Sheshagiri college of engineering and Chandana M of Bellary institute of technology and management.
Ramya T of CMR institute of technology won six gold medals, while Prajnya N of RNS institute of technology and Pallavi P of JNNCE in Shivamogga, and Tejaswini R of RNSIT, were awarded with four gold medals. Ashwita N of RNSIT and Savita HT of UBDT in Davanagere have won three gold medals.
“My father is a civil engineer and so is my elder brother. I got my inspiration from them. My family has been supportive of my choices, from taking up the course to choosing the college, they agreed with my choices and interest. My father wanted me to study medicine, but he was equally supportive when I told him about civil engineering. It involves visiting sites, practical and labour work that can challenge a girl’s capabilities but I always believed in my strength. This branch is not restricted to private companies but also has government jobs and my goal is to prepare for the UPSC now,” Bushra Mateen was quoted as saying.
“I always referred to textbooks as it increased my knowledge and prepared me for a competitive environment. I believed in God and never compared myself to others. I believe nothing is impossible to achieve if you have self-confidence and determination,” added Bushra.
Vice Chancellor Dr Karisiddappa told journalists in Belagavi that VTU will include industrialists and entrepreneurs in the university board from this year, as per the provisions of the New Education Policy.