Frontlist | News from the world of education

Frontlist | News from the world of education
on Mar 03, 2021

IT consultancy and service organisation Xebia recently hosted the XGRAD 2021 Higher Education Summit online on the theme Industry and Academic Partnerships: A key to innovation and Growth. Dr Anil Sahsrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE, spoke about the importance of multidisciplinary education and lifelong learning. The colloquium discussed how industry and academic partnerships affect students; how technological advancement can ensure efficiency among students; and how real-world experiences and classroom learning can marry to produce students with excellent skill-set. Thought Leadership’ session Addressing the graduating class of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, virtually, Shiv Shivakumar, Group Executive President at Aditya Birla Group, spoke about seven career dilemmas that most people face. He also touched upon the importance of money in one’s career, skill sets required for the future, how difficult it is to start something of your own, and the importance of managing one’s career and highlighted ways to excel in various stages of one’s professional life. Living allowance programme The Masai School recently announced the launch of Glide Programme, an initiative that recognises top performing students of its full-time seven-month programmes. These students will be eligible for a monthly living allowance of ₹ 15,000 for the duration of the course. Aspirants will be able to focus on the programme without worrying about financial support and have the financial means to buy a laptop or subscribe for a data package. Scholarships for aspiring engineers Chennai-based start-up Skill-Lync recently announced 200 scholarships for students to take up job-aligned career programmes. Successful candidates will get a fee waiver of up to ₹1,00,000. The selection process involves an aptitude test where students will be assessed on the basis of quick problem-solving and reasoning. To apply, visit: bit.ly/skill-lync-scholarship. New Courses launched World University of Design recently announced new courses in Management, Architecture, Design and Performing Arts for Design School students. Management (Three-year BBA and Two-year MBA): Design Strategy & Innovation and Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence & Design Thinking (DA.AI.DT), and Service Design. Architecture (Two-year M.Arch): Sustainable Architecture and Digital Architecture Design (Four-year B.Des and Two-year M.Des): Computer Science and Design, and User Experience & Interaction Design Performing Arts (BPA/Integrated MPA/MPA – Music/ Dance/ Theatre): Dance (Classical /contemporary) or Music Studies (Classical /modern) or Theatre Arts (Classical and experimental). For more information, visit, www.worlduniversityofdesign.ac.in Case Research Centre launched The recently launched Universal Case Research Centre, a not-for-profit initiative of Universal Business School, India, will provide an opportunity to shape research, case writing, industry-academia collaboration and teaching methods in business education. It will focus on Indian and Asian case studies in areas such as business, operations, innovation, finance, marketing, organisation culture, ethics, family owned business, social enterprises, corporate governance, and e-commerce. Industry report A recent 2021 joint industry report titled ‘Future of jobs in design, fashion and contemporary media’ by KPMG India, Pearl Academy, FICCI and FDCI, recently analysed 160 job profiles and shares recommendations to help higher education institutions in developing the right talent for India Inc. It also provided recommendations for higher education institutions (HEIs) such as promoting innovation, entrepreneurial abilities, and global exposure, how HEIs should play a role in empowering and training rural workforce to support demand for local products, among others. Cultural fest The 12th edition of Xenia, the annual cultural festival of the Indian School of Business & Finance, Delhi, was hosted virtually this year and saw more than 800 students from about 600 institutions across the globe participate. The festival, spearheaded by ISBF’s Student Societies and the Student Relations department, had 16 competitions — with over ₹2 lakh of prize money — designed to bring out the diverse talents and skill sets of participating students. Art, storytelling, creativity, debating, general knowledge, music and dance, analytical and decision-making skills were some of the competitions. Distinguished Thought Leadership Series Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys, participated in the Great Lakes Institute of Management’s (Chennai) virtual fire-chat session and addressed an audience of 750+ participants. He touched upon some key topics, including defining an entrepreneur, and explained that entrepreneurs must come with bright and powerful ideas. He also highlighted skills that an individual should possess to become an entrepreneur. India Skills Report 2021 According to the India Skills Report 2021 by Wheebox, in partnership with Taggd, CII, AICTE, AIU and UNDP, Delhi-NCR, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh have the highest pool of employable talent in the country. The study also found out that Mumbai is the most highly employable resources with 70% of the test takers scoring above 60%, followed by Hyderabad. Gender gap in employability was found to have improved with the digital revolution. One structural change was that women’s participation was higher than the last five year — 36% of the workforce, while men comprise 64% Free pre-exam training Online learning platform Oliveboard recently partnered with the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) body and offered a pre-exam training (PET) for marginalised aspirants for the ECGC PO exam scheduled for March 14. It targeted students from SC/ST backgrounds and gave them a basic grounding in the study material for ECGC PO prior to the exam. Galgotias University to open new centres Galgotias University is all set to open Deendayal Upadhyaya Higher Quality Centre for students from weaker sections. University CEO Dhruv Galgotia also said the university will soon start the process to obtain accreditation for Open Distance Learning and Online Programmes. He further said that the university will soon start a four-year undergraduate course as per new education policy. He also announced the establishment an adult education centre in Uttarakhand and the Galgotias Vivekananda Research Centre. AMBA re-accreditation Sheffield University Management School recently received re-accreditation from the Association of MBAs (AMBA). This offers a chance to all current MBA/MBM students and recent alumni of the Sheffield University Management School to join AMBA’s global member community of more than 56,000 students and alumni, in more than 150 countries, on a free basis, for networking, thought leadership, career development, and a variety of benefits. Create with Math curriculum launched WhiteHat Jr recently launched the ‘Create with Math’ curriculum, the first of multiple new subjects that the company will launch over the next few months. The curriculum aims to empower children to be math-confident for life. Anchored on US Common Core Math Standards, it will cater to children from classes I to VIII in India. SP Jain Global’s Class of 2020 goes global SP Jain School of Global Management (SP Jain Global), recently completed the successful campus placements for its flagship Global MBA (GMBA) and Master of Global Business (MGB) programmes. Over 56% of students from the class of 2020 bagged international offers from Singapore, Dubai, Qatar and Malaysia, among others. Top recruiters included Aramex, Bayer, Cedar Consulting, Cognizant, Dabur, Danzas, E&Y, Emerson, Frost & Sullivan, Genpact, Grant Thornton, Henkel, and more. Padmanabha Ramanujam joins IFIM Law School IFIM Law School recently appointed Prof. Padmanabha Ramanujam as the Dean of the institute. Prof. Ramanujam joined the Centre for Development and Education (CDE) at IFIM as the Director of Legal Education, this January and has taken up the responsibilities of mentoring the faculty and strengthening the department. He will also be a Member of the Governing Council for the School of Law, Vijaybhoomi University, Karjat, Greater Mumbai. Basic Nutrition and Fitness course launched INFS recently launched a free Basic Nutrition and Fitness Course to familiarise people with the science behind fitness and health in a simple manner. Students will not only learn the fundamentals of nutrition, diet, and exercise, but also be able to design their own diet and activity plans. INFS scholars will have access to experienced faculty members to whom they can reach out through the planned tutorial sessions or through the Discussion Forums. For details, visit, https://infs.co.in/ Edtech for exam prep A survey by Brainly found that Indian students were beginning to use edtech platform for their preparations. Based on a sample size of 9,029 respondents from across the country, the survey found that 23% students were taking help from their peers, while 17.5% were being coached by tutors or coaching experts and 15.2% by parents, 10.9% said that they used edtech rms to solve their queries, while 33.3% went with all the available options. App development course Ap building platform Appy Pie recently introduced a no-code app development course for K-12 students who have no knowledge of coding but have an entrepreneurial bent. Students will start with an introduction to app development, creating a demo mobile app equipped with basic and premium features. They also learn to publish their apps on Google Play Store and Apple App Store. To enrol, visit, https://academy.appypie.com/no-code-developer-course-for-students Simplilearn and AICTE join forces Simplilearn recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for a Ministry of Education initiative National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT 2.0). This will see a collaboration in upskilling higher education students from Indian engineering and technical institutes. As part of the MoU, Simplilearn will offer six programmes in Data Science, DevOps Engineering, Business Analysis, Big Data Engineering, Big Data Hadoop and Spark Development and AWS Big Data Certification Training on the NEAT 2.0 platform. Through this collaboration, NEAT will use key e-learning content from Simplilearn’s programmes and live learning platform to provide the students with a quality learning experience in digital skills and technologies. Global School Play Day Aditya Birla World Academy (ABWA) recently celebrated ‘Global School Play Day’ — a day dedicated to being free and do nothing but play. The idea was to highlight the importance of unstructured play. For ABWA students, a ‘Homeroom time’ was scheduled where a list of activities was planned with students. Through this initiative, the school focused on highlighting the importance of unstructured play through the campaign #PlugOffPlayOn. Freshers, welcome aboard TeamLease EdTech recently launched its latest report ‘Career Outlook Report Feb-Apr 21’, an analysis of the hiring intent of employers, job profiles in demand, skills that fit the job roles and courses that can help fresh job seekers. According to the report, India Inc is keen to hire fresh skilled talents. In fact, more than 15% of the corporates have expressed an intent to hire freshers, with Informational Technology, Telecommunications, E-commerce and start-ups being the leaders. Massive funds raised Edtech start-upWizKlub, recently raised funding of ₹ 6 crore with participation from existing investor Incubate Fund India, bringing the total funds raised to ₹ 15 crore, so far. The company plans to use the fresh capital to accelerate growth and run rate. WizKlub helps build skills in children through its HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) and SmartTech programmes Unacademy acquires TapChief Unacademy recently announced the acquisition of TapChief, a professional networking and future-of-work platform. TapChief leverages a host of technology solutions to empower professionals to interact and learn from experts, work with businesses from across the world, and aggregate their personal brand online. It has 1,50,000+ registered professionals, who use the platform to collaborate with a host of experts from their chosen domains and take up short-term professional projects. Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Ambula Gopi Raja from Vijayawada recently won the EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) 2021 India Finals, and has been awarded a cash prize of ₹ 1 lakh and the opportunity to represent India at the global finals of GSEA 2021, where he will compete against participants from 30 countries, including , Canada, Japan, Mexico, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and the U.S., for a cash prize of $25,000. Sustainable Mobility Research Michelin India Technology Centre, Pune, and IIT Bombay-Monash Research Academy recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), designed to be an umbrella agreement between the two organisations for next generation sustainable mobility research. This partnership will be a five-year tenure with several projects envisaged for development in the mobility space in India. It will bring Michelin’s global Research and Development DNA and involve doctoral students (PhD) from IIT Bombay-Monash Research Academy encompassing a wide range of themes such as advanced computational engineering, materials, simulation and manufacture, Infrastructure engineering, clean energy water, nanotechnology, biotechnology and stem cell research. Mpower Cell at B. K. Birla College inaugurated Neerja Birla, Founder & Chairperson, Mpower, recently inaugurated Mpower Cell at B. K. Birla College, (Autonomous) Kalyan, which will cater to the needs of 11,000+ students, 300+ faculty members and staff of B. K. Birla College and their families and to 4,000 students and 250 teachers, staff and their families of B. K. Birla Public School. Mpower Cell services will also be extended to Century Rayon, Century Rayon High School and Century Rayon Hospital. This initiative is a drive to deliver quality mental healthcare and make it easily accessible to more than 75,000 persons aroundKalyan. Master’s in Deep Learning and AI launched REVA University invites applications for a two-year Master of Science in Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence, in association with CloudxLab. This UGC-approved degree is a globally-valid, WES-recognised master’s course. The first batch is scheduled to start on May 1. This course is primarily targeted at professionals and executives with at least two years’ of relevant work experience. Candidates, with a basic understanding of programming, can apply. Admission is subject to the performance in a written test and a personal interview. Visit https://bit.ly/37ZsfZz for more. GLIM’s virtual TEDx Conference Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai (GLIM) recently hosted its first virtual TEDxGLIM Chennai, on ‘Shed the Layers’, which illustrated that there is power in vulnerability and being yourself. Speakers including Sarah Kashyap (Cross-country motorcycle rally racer), Deane De Menzes (Founder of Red is the New Green and NGO activist), Vikram Poddar (India’s first Corporate stand-up comedian and founder of Boredroom Comedy) and Garima Avtar (Extreme Rally Driver). Women in Law LSAC Global recently hosted a webinar featuring top Indian and international legal leaders who offered valuable perspectives on The Female lead: Impact of Women in Law. The conversation revolved around women’s contribution to legal education, as well as how to encourage young women to discover and enter the field of law. The webinar also delved into the skills that a student would learn in law school. B.Tech. degree programme admissions Ecole Centrale School of Engineering, Mahindra University (MU), Hyderabad, recently announced admissions to its four-year B.Tech. programme. About 660 seats are on offer in seven specialisations. Those who have a 10+2 or equivalent qualification from any statutory board with 60% aggregate marks in all subjects or equivalent grade for the students from IB or other approved Boards are eligible to apply. Admissions will be granted on the basis of either JEE Mains (Qualify in JEE Main examination, and be eligible to write the JEE Advance 2021 exam) or valid SAT subject test scores with a minimum of 1800, which should include Maths, Physics and Chemistry. For NRI/PIO category students, general SAT scores are also accepted. The last date to apply for the first round of counselling through JEE Mains score is May 31 and the last date to receive applications is July 10. The application form is available online at www.mahindrauniversity.edu.in BML Munjal University report BML Munjal University recently unveiled a report on Embracing the shift in healthcare at its second AI industry conclave on, organised virtually. The report summarises the opportunities and challenges that AI presents for India’s healthcare sector, factors driving its adoption, practical insights into its functioning in the Indian context gathered through a primary survey with C-suite executives in healthcare organisations and recommendations for its future prospects. The report was released by Vishal Talwar, Dean, School of Management, BML Munjal University. Expert speakers from Invento Robotics, Qure.AI, Microsoft, University of Warwick, Oxford University and McKinsey shared their insights. Virtual HR Conclave Institute of Management Studies (IMS) Noida and ICT Academy recently organised a virtual HR Conclave on the theme Future skill. The speakers were Vinay Agarwal from Tech Mahindra Global Head Business; Vijayan KA, Head Academic Operation from ICT Academy; Pankaj Kakkar, Principal Technical Analyst from West Management; Dr. Kulneet Suri, Senior Director; and Prof. Dr. Manju Gupta from IMS Noida. TechnoStructAcademy Signs MoU with JC Bose University TechnoStruct Academy, an educational enterprise of the American company BIM Firm TechnoStruct, LLC, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with J.C. Bose University of Science & Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, to provide hands-on experience to the students on Building Information Modeling (BIM) Technology. It also intends to offer ‘TechnoStruct Training and Development Programme’ to students of the university which include free internship, hands-on exposure to international projects and placement assistance for three years. Electric Two-Wheeler launched IIT Madras-incubated start-up Pi Beam recently launched an electric two-wheeler that can charge faster than a smartphone and comes with a range of 50 km. Called ‘PiMo’, this sustainable and affordable e-bike is targeted towards personal and commercial needs. It does not require license or registration, and offers green and easy mobility on Indian roads. Around 90% of its product components, including the crucial batteries and controllers, are manufactured in India. It aims to sell 10,000 vehicles by the end of the next financial year. Industry-academia collaboration Whistling Woods International (WWI) and Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) recently signed a MOU for industry-academia collaboration to further the cause of Emerging Media Content and Cinematic Virtual Reality (VR). WWI will work with MMRC to produce approximately a dozen short videos in 360 Virtual Reality documenting the Making of Mumbai Metro. Ravinder Pal Singh at Rishihood University Rishihood University (RU) welcomes Ravinder Pal Singh as its Professor of Practice for Leadership, Innovation and Design. He will also be the university’s Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer and will closely work to incubate a culture of innovation and incubate future entrepreneurs. He is an award-winning technologist and angel investor, with several hundred global recognitions and patents. Education Leaders’ Programme for Teachers and Educators Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta recently selected Hughes Global Education, to offer its new leadership programme, EdLEAP, for teachers and educators. The Post Graduate Certification programme has been designed for aspiring school leaders, academicians, and entrepreneurs to help build and strengthen leadership across schools. Curated by the IIM-C faculty, the new courses will be delivered to learners across India over the Hughes interactive onsite learning platform in direct-to-device mode (D2D). For details, visit, https://www.iimcal.ac.in/ldp/edleap Inaugural Professor Ambassador Class Qlik recently announced its first Academic Programme Professor Ambassador Class, a select network of academics from the Qlik Academic Programme who have leveraged Qlik to drive data literacy with analytics in the classroom and prepare students for the data-driven economy. This is an extension of the Qlik Academic Programme, which helps universities improve the value of their offerings by teaching marketable data skills, while helping students advance their analytical and data literacy proficiency within every academic discipline. Professors selected for ambassador status join a network of like-minded peers from across the world and gain exclusive access to additional Qlik resources. AESL’s instant Admission-Cum-Scholarship Test Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) recently launched a unique instant scholarship — the instant Admission Cum Scholarship Test Exam (iACST), which enables talented and deserving students from classes VII-XI gain up to 90% scholarship online, and enables students from different social and financial backgrounds take advantage of quality teaching. Students can take the exam online and will be provided with details of the scholarship earned immediately. The scholarship will be for admission to Medical, Engineering and Foundation Courses for both the classroom and hybrid learning programmes. Class XII passed students can opt for Special Repeater Courses. For more information, log on to https://iacst.aakash.ac.in/iacstexam. New medical college and hospital The Indira Group recently launched the Indira Medical College and Hospitals (IMCH) with an intake capacity of 75 boys and 68 girls this year. IMCH aims to serve people living around Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur region and is affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr.M.G.R. R Medical University, Guindy, Chennai, and has been approved by the National Medical Commission, New Delhi. An online gathering for digital education Edtech platform Educlouds was recently listed in the World Book Of Records-Gold Edition for hosting the World’s Largest Gathering of Digital Education. Over 100 organisations, educators, parents and iconic think tanks from 35 countries came together virtually. Connecting educators, parents and students with the future of education, Educlouds also launched Educlouds App, a tech-enabled holistic ecosystem of modern education to usher a new era of online education in India and across the globe. Newton School shines Bengaluru-based ed-tech startup, Newton School, recently raised $5M in the Series A round of financing led by RTP Global. The funding round saw participation from existing investors. Nexus Venture Partners, Prophetic Ventures and Unacademy co-founders Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh. Flipkart’s CEO Kalyan Krishnamoorthy, CRED’s Kunal Shah, Freshworks’ Girish Mathrubootham, Udaan’s Sujeet Kumar and Razorpay founders Harshil Mathur & Shashank Kumar, along with a slew of angels also participated in the round. Edtech network beyond boundaries Integrated marketplace Skill Monks recently added seven leading Edtech companies — IMARTICIUS, Testbook, Edureka, Endeavor, CAREERERA, Great Learning and Digital Vidya — to its skilling platform. It offers high-quality programmes that will enable exam preparation through online learning solutions for students as well as upskilling programmes in the IT domain for industry professionals through relevant certifications and executive programmes. For more information, visit, www.skillmonks.com Scholarship for women GreyCampus recently announced 100 scholarships for women to take up job-aligned career programmes in data science and full stack development. The programme, structured by industry experts, has a six-month rigorous curriculum where students will be prepared for career opportunities through live instructor-led classes, assignments, quizzes, online labs, industry projects and mentorship. The admission process involves application, followed by an aptitude test and an interview. Successful candidates will get a 100% fee waiver. Interested women can apply here https://bit.ly/2MBmw4A Smart hand sanitisers Smart hand sanitisers, that can provide data on workplace hand hygiene, are on trial across the country, as part of research by the Universities of Sheffield and Leeds into how best to engage people with the latest COVID-19 workplace hand hygiene guidance. The new technology can grab the attention of the users with integrated video screens to display the latest workplace hand hygiene guidance and provide valuable real-time data for employers to use in their fight against COVID-19. Developed by hand hygiene technology company Savortex, they can monitor in real-time, how often, or not, they are used. Read More: PM Modi inaugurates second edition of ‘Maritime India Summit 2021’ Source: The Hindu