News from the world of Education: December 12, 2024

Symposium on Computational Gastronomy

IIIT-Delhi will host the Symposium on Computational Gastronomy 2024 on December 14. The event brings together chefs, data scientists, researchers, and industry experts and also features the Fork-It Hackathon, hosted by ACM and CoSyLab at IIIT-Delhi. Details at https://iiitd.ac.in/gastrosym2024.

Hack IITK 2024

IIT Kanpur’s C3iHub has opened registrations for Hack IITK 2024, its global cybersecurity hackathon for students and aspiring startups, in a hybrid format. The deadline is January 9. Details at https://hackathon.iitk.ac.in/.

Admissions and scholarships

World University of Design (WUD), Sonipat, invites applications for its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in architecture, design, fashion, communication, visual arts, performing arts and management. Admission will be through the WUD Design Aptitude Test (WUDAT 2025), which will be held online on January 11 and January 12, 2025. Deadline for application submission is January 8, 2025. For details of programmes, eligibility criteria and more information, visit https://t.ly/WPHQo

ARCH College of Design and Business, Jaipur invites applications for its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Fashion, Interior, Jewellery, Communication, Photography, Digital Design and Design Communication through All India Entrance Examination for Design (AIEED). Last date to submit applications is December 25. For details of programmes, eligibility criteria and more information, visit https://www.archedu.org/

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has opened admissions for Phase 2 of its Ph.D. admissions.

Eligibility: 60% or more in PG degree. NET/GATE qualifiers are eligible for direct interviews.

Deadline: December 22

Details at www.amrita.edu/phd

International Year One (IYO) in Finance

 INTO University Partnerships, University of London, has launched an International Year One (IYO) in Finance for international students in collaboration with Bayes Business School. For details, visit https://tinyurl.com/ystrf69x

University of Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow, the U.K., is offering a Diamond Jubilee scholarship to students who are self-funded and hold an offer of a place on an SBS M.Sc. programme for the January 2025 intake and are deemed International with regard to fee status.

Deadline: January 10

Details at https://tinyurl.com/3472fx55

ITM Business School has opened applications for its MBA iConnect programme.

Eligibility: 50% in Bachelor’s degree from a recognised institution.

Deadline: December 18

More details https://www.itm.edu/

Events

BIMTECH, Greater Noida, hosted an art workshop in collaboration with the Birla Academy of Art and Culture. Facilitated by renowned artist Paresh Maity, it reinforced skills such as resilience, creative problem-solving, and so on. BIMTECH also hosted Hermes Dialogue 5.0 on the theme Countries Restrict Trade and Access to Critical Minerals to Achieve Climate Goals, in which Swati Singh, Director-Trade Policy Division at CII and Jayant Jawa, General Manager-Overseas Business, Daikin Air Conditioning India participated.

Samsung Semiconductor India Research, in collaboration with IIIT-Bangalore and VLSI System Design, has launched the eight-week Chip Design for High School programme for students from Classes 6 to 12. It will introduce students to semiconductor design fundamentals, AI integration, and more.

Smiling Tree partnered with Lalit Mahajan SVM Senior Secondary School, New Delhi, to conduct a plantation drive in which students, teachers, and community members participated.

Sunstone School of Management partnered with B2K Analytics to conduct a placement audit for the MBA 2021-23 batch, following the Indian Placement Reporting Standards; 1,353 students received offers from over 550 recruiters.

Pearl Academy hosted the International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institutes (IFFTI) India Chapter Inaugural Roundtable. An outcome was the creation of the IFFTI India Chapter Manifesto. Members agreed to collaborate on digital innovation, sustainability, and skill development, focusing on Indian heritage.

Manav Rachna’s School of Leadership and Management hosted the fourth edition of the Dr. Pritam Singh Memorial. The theme was Workplace Disruptions: Leadership, Digitisation, and Organisation Sustainability, and thought leaders and academicians explored ideas shaping the future of leadership and management.

As part of the recently concluded fifth phase of the Yuva Sangam cultural exchange programme, IIM Mumbai and IIT Bhubaneswar organised academic-cum-cultural exchange programmes where students participated in various events.

Britannica Education launched its India operations where it introduced 12 digital products tailored for Indian schools, teachers, and students from K–12. Among the solutions unveiled were Britannica School, Britannica Library, among others.

IIM Sambalpur, in collaboration with the National HRD Network (NHRDN), has established a new chapter at its campus. The initiative aims to create a landscape for human resource development and thought leadership in India.

Hansraj College, in collaboration with the Bougainvillea Art Foundation, hosted the launch of two coffee table books by Kaynat Kazi, Author and Founder of Bougainvillea Art Foundation. They were the culmination of cultural documentation at 41 monasteries in Bodhgaya, and aim to conserve India’s heritage.

Navrachana University’s School of Environmental Design and Architecture hosted its end semester exhibition. It showcased projects from its Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Design (Interior), and Bachelor of Design (Product Design and Visual Communication) programmes, and featured over 500 models and 1,000 drawings.

The second edition of GradRight’s ShiftED, brought together over 4,000 students, eight financial partners, 24 foreign universities, and industry leaders. It addressed critical issues affecting students worldwide in the global higher education ecosystem.

JBCN International School, Borivali, recently concluded activities of Literary Oasis. It promoted the reading habit among school-goers, set up reading stations at MBH School, and also organised a book donation drive at Gyantara Academy on Children’s Day.

Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai recently hosted the Brand Conclave 2024 themed Crafting Indian Brands for Global Success. The RapteeHV x Great Lakes Chase the Case Competition, was part of the event.

In IIT Kanpur’s phase-1 placement session, over 1,000 students received offers. Recruiters included Deutsche Bank, ICICI Bank, Intel, Qualcomm, FedEx, Meesho, BPCL, among others.

Aakash Educational Services Limited launched AIATS Plus Phase 2, a personalised learning programme for NEET 2025 aspirants. It includes diagnostic tests, mock exams and a 26-paper Final Test Series available in the online and offline formats. They are available on the myAakash app (https://tinyurl.com/26hmrzv6).

St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, West Indies, recently hosted its Familiarisation Programme for education agents and school counsellors from India and globally. It offered an overview of its curriculum, facilities, and more.

Vidyalankar Group hosted The HR Summit 2024 which focused on shaping future leaders. HR professionals, industry specialists, students, and faculty members participated.

Mount Litera Zee School unveiled Litera Nova, a new pedagogy and an adaptive learning app that empowers learners.

IIIT-Hyderabad’s Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC) celebrated its 25th year; LTRC launched the free-to-download BhashaVerse language resources machine translation models.

Kolkata Sahodaya, in collaboration with Techno India Group, hosted the 30th National Annual Sahodaya Conference of School Complexes; 1,300 principals, educators, and stakeholders from across India and globally participated.

A four-year Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics course was launched at O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU). It will commence in August 2025.

Convocations

International Management Institute Bhubaneswar hosted its 12th convocation where 180 students received their diplomas. Mohan Charan Majhi, Chief Minister of Odisha, was the chief guest.

Centurion University hosted its 12th convocation where 2,738 students from the 2024 batch and 138 students from previous batches received their degrees. Justice Sandeep Mehta, Judge, Supreme Court of India, was the chief guest.

Manipal University Jaipur hosted its third convocation for 4,015 online students of various UG and PG courses.

Awards, laurels, and rankings

Jyotsna Mayadas, Principal, EuroSchool Thane, was awarded the Derozio Award for Education and Human Enrichment by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.

Team RSP from XLRI Jamshedpur emerged as the national winner of the ninth edition of Samsung E.D.G.E, while Team Chevy67 was first runners-up. Team Phoenix from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Calcutta was second runners-up.

Radhika Thakur and Aranya Ojha from Vagdevi Vilas School (Varthur branch), Bengaluru were declared winners in the finale of Veranda K-12’s Avinya which concluded at IIT-Bangalore.

Gautam Krishna, Nikhil Bhati, and Saran Bahadur, cadets from Noida International University, have been selected for the NCC Republic Day Camp and shortlisted for the Youth Exchange Programme from UP Directorate, Ghaziabad group.

The University of Sheffield was ranked 27th globally in the 2025 QS World University Rankings: Sustainability, as well as 10th in the U.K. and 16th in Europe.

Shoolini University achieved a silver rating in the Times Higher Education (THE) Online Learning Rankings (OLR) 2024, placing it among the top 25 institutions globally for online education.

BITS Pilani was awarded the A++ grade with a score of 3.68 out of 4 in the NAAC accreditation.

Studies

Researchers from IIM Lucknow and Ahmedabad University have conducted a study outlining necessary steps for India’s industrial sector to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. Published in Applied Energy, it presents a roadmap focusing on energy efficiency, material recycling, and investments in clean technologies such as carbon capture and hydrogen.

A recent study from IIT Roorkee, led by Prof. Ranjana Pathania’s research group, has revealed that a specific bacterial protein, called L,D-transpeptidase A (LdtA), is instrumental in helping bacteria evade the effects of rod complex targeting antibacterials, including mecillinam. The research findings have been published in the ACS Infectious Diseases journal.

IIT Guwahati researchers have developed an advanced biological method to convert methane and carbon dioxide into cleaner biofuels using methanotrophic bacteria. Co-authored by Prof. Debasish Das and Krishna Kalyani Sahoo, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati, it has been published in the journal Fuel (https://tinyurl.com/438sf6fz).

Partnerships

Vedatya has partnered with Leeds Beckett University, the U.K. Through this partnership, the former’s students will have direct access to globally recognised programmes.

Crack Academy has partnered with the Himachal Pradesh government to provide coaching scholarships worth ₹34 crore. It aims to prepare 6,800 students for competitive exams.

UPES has signed an MoU with the University of Waterloo, Canada, to create learning opportunities in online executive education by bringing WatSPEED, the latter’s professional learning initiative, to India, as well as study-abroad opportunities for UPES students, among others.

Infinity Learnby Sri Chaitanya has partnered with Google to harness Google AI stack to empower k-12 learners across India to prepare for Maths, Science education and exams such as the JEE and NEET.

Lovely Professional University signed an MoU with the University of Bristol, to enhance student mobility and research opportunities through initiatives such as credit transfer programmes, semester exchanges, and collaborative research projects, for students to gain international exposure.

Mahindra University has signed an MoU with Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech India to establish the Interdisciplinary Institute for Transformative Technologies to foster innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and research.

IIM Kozhikode has signed an MoU with Management Training Institute of Steel Authority of India Limited, to foster collaboration in academic activities and human resource development interventions.

BOSCH India Foundation has signed an MoU with Medhavi Group, to collaborate on skill development initiatives across India, with special emphasis on Northeastern states. It aims to empower underprivileged youth with employable skills.

The Automotive Skills Development Council signed an MoU with SUTM Steinbeis School for Sustainable Technology and Management GmbH, Germany. It introduces a 1+1 Master’s Programme in Business Engineering to equip young talent with technical expertise and business acumen.