Jalandhar, Feb 25 (IANS): Lovely Professional University (LPU) celebrated its 11th annual convocation on Sunday with former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott as the chief guest who urged the graduating students to take pride in nation's potential to bring peace, prosperity, freedom, and development to the world.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot on Sunday told the students at Lovely Professional University (LPU) here in Punjab to take pride in India's potential to bring peace, prosperity, freedom, and development to the world.

Abbot said this while addressing the students at the varsity's 11th annual convocation. The former Australian PM was the 'Chief Guest' at the programme.

The event also witnessed the conferral of an honorary doctorate, Honoris Causa, upon Abbott.

During the convocation, Abbott recognised the achievements of 102 gold medallists and 555 PhD scholars, while also acknowledging the performance of 567 students who excelled in academic and co-curricular activities.

The convocation also marked the graduation of LPU's first batch of 'Online Mode Students'.

More than 60,000 graduating students received degrees in diverse domains.

In his address, Abbott expressed his admiration for India as a remarkable country and encouraged students to utilise the confidence and belief instilled within them through their degrees and medals to make a positive impact on society.

Abbott served as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015.

LPU founder Chancellor, Ashok Kumar Mittal, highlighted the partnership between LPU and 16 prestigious Australian universities and shared the university's recent achievements.